Bookmarking Bacevich

Aside from trashing Matt Funiello, this blog exists to bookmark articles I want to save.

Consider the following claims, each of which in Washington circles has attained quasi-canonical status.

* The presence of U.S. forces in the Islamic world contributes to regional stability and enhances American influence.
* The Persian Gulf constitutes a vital U.S. national security interest.
* Egypt and Saudi Arabia are valued and valuable American allies.
* The interests of the United States and Israel align.
* Terrorism poses an existential threat that the United States must defeat.

For decades now, the first four of these assertions have formed the foundation of U.S. policy in the Middle East. The events of 9/11 added the fifth, without in any way prompting a reconsideration of the first four. On each of these matters, no senior U.S. official (or anyone aspiring to a position of influence) will dare say otherwise, at least not on the record.

Yet subjected to even casual scrutiny, none of the five will stand up.  To take them at face value is the equivalent of believing in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy — or that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell really, really hope that the Obama administration and the upcoming Republican-controlled Congress can find grounds to cooperate.

It's too long for a label, but this might fall under the heading of "shit Funiello and I might agree on." And hey, here's something the neocons will agree with Jimmy Carter on.

Regardless, the assumed energy dependence and “vital interests” that inspired Jimmy Carter to declare back in 1980 that the Gulf is worth fighting for no longer pertain.

I can see why they don't care for Bacevich, tho.

 Like crime and communicable diseases, terrorism will always be with us.  In the face of an outbreak of it, prompt, effective action to reduce the danger permits normal life to continue. Wisdom lies in striking a balance between the actually existing threat and exertions undertaken to deal with that threat. Grown-ups understand this. They don’t expect a crime rate of zero in American cities. They don’t expect all people to enjoy perfect health all of the time.  The standard they seek is “tolerable.”

Greens Against Oil

In the latest Chronicle. Matt Funiello of the neo-Amish Green Party gave his, or someone's, opinion on the Keystone Pipeline.Mark Frost makes it sound like Funiello wrote it, but in any case, here tis:

The Green Party of the United States is calling for the defeat of proposed tar-sands pipelines when the U.S. Senate votes on the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday and opposes alternative plans, including "Energy East," that would route Canadian oil into the U.S. by pipeline or tanker.

I really hope that Mark Frost is going to continue to run his missives. It would've been fun to see him interacting with the Right-wing loons in Congress. God knows. But, seeing him in the local media will suffice as a consolation prize. 

From what I can gather, the Greens want the oil to stay in  the ground in Canada. I'd dearly love to know what they want us to do for energy between now and the time we're running our houses and cars on wind and solar power. Hate to sound like a Republican (Matt'll tell you that Dems and Reps are the same, of course). Actually, I'm greener than the average bear. I went for over 4 years without a vehicle, walking a lot and riding GGFT. That said, I know that Americans still need fuckin' oil.

Just FYI, Matt drives a Ford pickup that I would guess gets 12 MPG. That's if it's tuned up real well and running efficiently. I'm guessing it's not corn powered.

And in bonus Matt-news:

The Green Party might field a candidate, said Matt Funiciello, the Green Party congressional candidate who placed second in Queensbury in this year’s congressional race.

“It is one of the races that Peter Lavenia (of the state Green Party Committee) is talking about,” Funiciello said.

That's because John Strough, the supervisor of Queensbury, is a tool of the corporations and no different than the unnamed Republican who will be running against him.

Queensbury Republican Chairman Bill VanNess said the Republican Party will field a candidate.

It's going to be a fun 2 years.

Stop Whining and Sue Him

Really wish the Republicans would. It would be a repeat of Fox News' lawsuit against Al Franken.

More than 100 immigration professors and scholars declared Tuesday that President Barack Obama's decision to make several million immigrants illegally in the United States eligible to be spared from deportation is constitutional and within his administrative powers.

And I wanted to bookmark this, as well. Love holiday miracles.

Uncle Mike started telling me about his rooftop solar panels. Solar panels! That clean energy-producing, climate change-reducing technology that Obama put on the roof of the White House, that I’ve written about repeatedly and enthusiastically; not only does Uncle Mike have a system of his own, he was willing to talk my ear off about all the benefits he’s getting out of it.

See, it's just like Matt Funiello sez, Obama and Uncle Mike are the same, both loving the solar panels. Fuckin' hippies!

I'll have them myself in 2015 or 16.

Tax Meat Now

This will be a plank in my platform when I make my run for Congress in 2016. Meat should absolutely be taxed. Can't believe I found this in Bloomberg.

Meat has always been part of the human diet. Few dishes are as wonderful as a bolognese sauce made with a combination of pork, lamb, and beef. But taxing pigs, sheep, and cows is essential to contain the spiraling costs associated with massive meat eating.

Excessive consumption of meat is harmful to human health and the health of the planet. I'll be eating some turkey on Thursday and I consume it several times a month on non-holidays. It's necessary that the costs associated with its consumption are raised in order to discourage it. 

Paul Krugman Judges Obama

Paul Krugman writes about the president here in Rolling Stone.

Obama faces trash talk left, right and center – literally – and doesn't deserve it. Despite bitter opposition, despite having come close to self-inflicted disaster, Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history. His health reform is imperfect but still a huge step forward – and it's working better than anyone expected. Financial reform fell far short of what should have happened, but it's much more effective than you'd think. Economic management has been half-crippled by Republican obstruction, but has nonetheless been much better than in other advanced countries. And environmental policy is starting to look like it could be a major legacy.

I'm really just putting this up here to bookmark it, a primary use of my blog. But, here is a bit for Matt Funiello.

It's worth pointing out that some criticisms of Obamacare from the left are also looking foolish. Obamacare is a system partly run through private insurance companies (although expansion of Medicaid is also a very important piece). And some on the left were outraged, arguing that the program would do more to raise profits in the medical-industrial complex than it would to protect American families.

You can still argue that single-payer would have covered more people at lower cost – in fact, I would. But that option wasn't on the table; only a system that appeased insurers and reassured the public that not too much would change was politically feasible. And it's working reasonably well: Competition among insurers who can no longer deny insurance to those who need it most is turning out to be pretty effective. This isn't the health care system you would have designed from scratch, or if you could ignore special-interest politics, but it's doing the job.

Yes, the politics of reality.

Marion Barry Memorium Monday Edition

RIP Mayor Barry. It's a shame he'll be remembered only for being set up in a crack bust and not for the good he did.

Former Harvard professor and civil rights leader Cornell West said on CNN on Sunday that Barry "had his flaws" but was a "great freedom fighter" for the poor and disenfranchised.

The Washington Post noted that he "plowed hundreds of millions of tax dollars into job training and employment programs, senior centers and social-welfare endeavors. Rank-and-file workers were hired by the thousands to serve under Mr. Barry's newly-appointed supervisory corps of African American middle and top level managers."

He ardently promoted African-American-owned enterprises.

In happier news, Americans are good with Emperor O and the flooding of the country with illegals.

By a 39-point margin--67 percent compared with 28 percent--likely 2016 voters view favorably the plan Obama announced last week, according to a Hart Executive Research Associates survey conducted for Americans United for Change, a pro-Democratic group.  

And some news on a guy looking to be our next emperor, Rand Paul, on dealing with ISIS.

The Kentucky senator, seeking to define himself as a foreign-policy heavyweight ahead of 2016, will introduce a measure in the Senate next month declaring war on the terror group. 

That doesn't sound very Libertarian-like. Like this did:

In an interview with The Daily Beast in September, Paul said he was against the idea of U.S. forces on Middle East soil. “I don’t think there needs to be any American soldiers over there on the ground,” he said.

It's not a flip-flop, it's apparently just Libertarian-lite. Don't know how that's gonna play with his dad's followers, though.

Doug Stafford, a senior aide to Paul, said the senator has not flip-flopped: “He doesn’t believe we should send a bunch of troops in to start a ground war. But he has always said we have an obligation to defend people in the region. The declaration is tailored to allow for this.”

And good news on the Benghazi front. It's apparently gone on hiatus until Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy. We can be pretty sure how she feels about troops to fight ISIS. 

A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.

Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.

That is the version you will see them present, with helpful highlighting by Tbogg. 

Alright, Let's Hear It For Civil Wars

Here's a great clip to watch anytime you're feeling blue because you think Ebola is coming to wipe us all out, and if it doesn't ISIS will finish off the survivors.

And I should point out to Matt Funiello that corporations are much kinder than those cruel colonialists. Took the advice of the great people at Patreon who made this and looked up King Leopold II. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more evil person in charge of a country today. As bad as you want to make out your least liked, most hated world leader to be, he is not in a league with this guy. 

Leopold’s actual work in the Congo was enslaving the population and using its labor to cart off resources. He lined his pockets with the profits and financed Belgian public works, bought real estate, built a fabulous villa in the south of France, and achieved what he regarded as greatness.
His regime forced Africans, at gunpoint, to work brutally hard at the tasks of empire: collecting ivory, tapping rubber, mining copper, building railroads, and carrying raw materials on their backs along narrow paths for miles. People who tried to avoid slavery were whipped, starved, and shot. Families were held hostage. People were raped and held as sex slaves. Crops were burned. Villages were leveled.

That's just a small sample. I implore you to read it all.

One More On The Election

I really did want to have done with the election, already. This past week saw the arrival of the post-election Chronicle with comments by my two favorite MFer's, though. Mark Frost stayed relatively inoffensive toward Aaron Woolf and Dems in general. He calls the Woolf campaign a "wet noodle" and proves that he's no comedian. Not much to disagree with there. If Metroland covered GF, I wouldn't have to bother picking up the Chronicle. Hey, I'm joking! About Funiello, he says:

If he were serious about winning, he might actually seek to line up support in the Democratic hierarchy. Matt as the Democratic and Green Party candidate is at a whole other level than Matt as Green Party candidate.

First, because they say start with a compliment; good use of the adjectival form of Democrat. Now. Hierarchy? I'm just a run-of-the-mill, lowly Democratic voter and I don't want him anywhere near my party. I wouldn't vote for him or give him a dime's worth of support. He wasn't and isn't a candidate for anything. He's performance art.

As for the Green Party candidate himself, he is now Matt Funiello. It's easier to write and say. And it's a reminder that it's not the Democrat Party. If he was looking for my support, he wouldn't be mouthing right-wing stupidity. Consider my goat gotten, Mr. Funiello. Here he is on running as a Dem:

"I'm planting the seed right now, If they really want me to run as a Democrat and like what I say and they think I'd be a good candidate but I can't win without Democrat support, I would say, then don't run somebody next time."

That's Democratic support and I don't think you want it very badly. And I would say "don't run anybody," but then, I speak English. Not wingnutese.

"Just don't run anybody, and we don't have a problem."

Overlooking the fact that it sounds like extortion, I'd have to say, I'd be voting for Elise Stefanik because she would be the lesser of the crazies, if not the evils.

I don't know how plausible that is, but the more I think about it what does the Democrat Party stand to lose by not running somebody in CD21?

Once again, that's the fuckin' Democratic Party, you fuckin' schmuck. And, if I thought he'd honor it, I'd suggest a deal. He goes mano a mano in 2016. After he gets his ass handed to him with a 60 point loss, he goes away.

Special Hometown thank you to Lynne Boecher for pointing out that we don't have openings for conspiracy theorists in the Democratic Party. He's a birther and a truther and a gun nut. Three strikes! From the February interview:

"If you don't feel we need guns to defend ourselves against tyranny, then you're not paying attention."

I pay enough attention to spot a wingnut when I see one. Just gotta ask, since the Warren County sheriff's have an MRAP now; how much firepower do you have? I think there's a good chance they're working for the tyrant.

Jen Sorensen:

Kansas: Poster Child for Republican Economic Policy

Beyond courses in micro and macro long ago, I don't have a great knowledge of economics. That may still be more than Arthur Laffer has.

Gov. Sam Brownback and his celebrity tax policy consultant, Arthur Laffer, said Tuesday that the income tax cuts Kansas lawmakers approved earlier this year will drive growth and make Kansas more competitive with surrounding states.

That was in August of 2012. And also:

Laffer said his studies show states with lower tax rates outperform high-tax states — a notion several other tax policy analysts say is misleading. Laffer said lower taxes may not work every day of every week, but he said economic growth is consistently driven by low-tax, low-regulation policies.

Ensconced here in the high tax, high regulation state of New York, it's interesting to see how this experiment in supply side progresses. 

Kansas will face a $279 million budget shortfall by July, far worse than state officials had thought before a new revenue forecast Monday that will force Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators to consider spending cuts.

The state will also be required to close an even bigger additional gap — $436 million — during the following 12 months, according to the new forecast.

What to do moving forward?

Brownback and many Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature are not publicly rethinking aggressive cuts in personal income taxes enacted in 2012 and 2013 to stimulate the economy. The state cut its top rate 26 percent and exempted the owners of 191,000 businesses from income taxes altogether, and further reductions are promised, including a decrease in the top rate next year.

Double down! Not sure it works at casinos (not being a gambler), but maybe it works with state budgets. Nothing to do but stay tuned.

Just wanted to throw in this bit of apostasy:

A board of medical professionals appointed by Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that the state should provide health coverage to low-income Texans under the Affordable Care Act — a move the Republican-led Legislature has opposed. 

Say it ain't so, Rick!

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/article1097282.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/article1097282.html#storylink=cpy

Photos From Paradise

Tuesday was a beautiful day here in Andrew Cuomo's Northern Kingdom. Everything else (nearly) about the election pissed me off so much, I was actually glad he won. Nearly is because Carrie Woerner was a bright, shining light. Anyway, had to harvest my leaves that are finally dropping. When Baal gives you leaves, make compost.

 

And Tuesday was baking day, since I was home all day raking and piling leaves. BTW, I did not rake all those leaves on Tuesday. Anyway, since I haven't posted any bread porn in awhile:

That's a wild yeast sourdough, a levain if you will. And it's a good thing I got those leaves up on Tuesday because the weather is changeable here in Utopia.

Actually, that was on my camera. It's from last winter. A chilling reminder of what's ahead. The Kindle and my pantry are loaded, though.

Moving On

Well, I've spent the past week sitting shiva for the election. Time to move on. Now I start to put together my platform for the 2016 run for representative in the district. If Funiciello can run, anyone can. I haven't chosen a party yet and none have chosen me. But, it's early. As an opening plank, I'm advocating for a mandatory 30 hour work week. No overtime for any reason, love or money.

We used to send children down mines, sack women when they got married and expect workers to put in 12-hour day, six days a week. For more than 200 years, we have associated better working conditions and shorter hours with human progress. An average workweek of 40 hours nowadays looks old fashioned and backward.

That's right! All the candidates running in this past election were willing to allow Americans to continue to suffer the 21st century equivalent of Dickens' London. More people working fewer hours equals more people employed in my macroeconomic view. I have more bold ideas in my platform and they will be unveiled over the course of the next year and a half or so.

Moving on to other local happenings: My former employer had a name change announced today. I heard it on the radio as I lie semi-comatose in bed this AM. I first thought they'd be changing it back to Central Market (which seemed like a good move). In the second sentence I heard they were changing it to Market 32 (which seemed like WTF?). Going on-line confirms that I was not still dreaming.

The chain's new name will be Market 32, a reference to Price Chopper's founding by the Golub family in 1932.

OK, still WTF? And they're spending $300 million on it. No, spend money hiring more help, paying more people full-time. I may not have mentioned in awhile that I don't work and it's entirely thanks to Price Chopper for working me like a galley slave for $9.90 an hour. Thanks Golubs.

In national news, not so much with IS, but our war on Ebola has apparently been won. Break out the ticker tape parade for Barack.

Fox News announced on Wednesday that it is terminating its coverage of the Ebola virus effective immediately, because, in the words of the host Sean Hannity, “Our work is done.”

The election of a Republican-led Congress may or may not have ended the War on Terror. Sleep soundly or not, depending on your party affiliation.

Thoughts on Chronicle Reprentative Endorsement

I want to jot down a few thoughts on Mark Frost's endorsement of Matt Funiciello. At first, yes I was shocked at the endorsement since Funiciello is quite a bit to the left of Obama. Like all Dems, seemingly, our president is a corporate puppet. Then Frost admits he would not be dismayed if Elise Stefanik was to win and my world is spinning the right way again.

I like the idea of Kate Hogan, Larry Bulman and Funiciello in a 3-way race. And I appreciate that he lobbied them to run. Oh well, one out of three ain't bad. Of course, they're all from Warren County. There are 11 other counties. But, that just goes to his point, that in a district as large as the 21st there are few natives stepping up to run. Mind you, I'd still like to see the most capable person elected over some yokel like me who has lived here for 57 years.

We run into some disagreement at, "I see Aaron Woolf as a privileged dilettante from NYC."

At the point in the election where this statement was made, Aaron Woolf was down by 18 points. I realize politics ain't beanbag and all. But, this seems a little unnecessarily petty. We've had many politicians from the founding fathers forward who would qualify as privileged. Pretty sure Frost would not have referred to Willard Romney as a privileged dilettante. The definition of ad hominem:

   

    1 :  appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect

   

   2 :  marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made 

Better yet, from the urban dictionary:

An attack upon an opponent in order to discredit their argument or opinion. Ad hominems are used by immature and/or unintelligent people because they are unable to counter their opponent using logic and intelligence.

He also points out that Woolf only registered to vote in the district 5 days before declaring his candidacy. He declares Woolf to utter Democratic talking points and to have a generic candidacy. You know who else utters their party's talking points and has a generic candidacy? Elise Stefanik! Pretty sure she hasn't been registered to vote in the district all that long either. 

But, when he gets to Stefanik, Frost expresses great affection. He really, really likes her. He states, "She's smart and able-and I like how hard she's working to get to know the district and its people. She's paying some dues." Not like that big city phony, Aaron Woolf.

I'm not going into the actual endorsement except to say thanks for the news that Matt is a Truther Questioner. That bit hadn't hit my RADAR. Also appreciate the Chronicle interview from back in February. There was enough in there to keep me from considering to vote for him.

That reminds me: there was this constant drumbeat from the Chronicle for Woolf to do an interview with them back then. He did two. Stefanik never did one at all, that I saw. And what else I didn't see was the idea that she was ducking them, as was put forth for Woolf. It's different for Republicans.

Random Sunday Thoughts

This just in from poor relation, Kansas. Now that the election is safely over.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and the GOP-dominated Legislature will get new revenue projections that are expected to make the state's budget problems look worse and intensify discussions about trimming spending.

The budget problems come after legislators enacted massive personal income tax cuts at Brownback's urging to stimulate the economy. The state has cut its top rate by 26 percent and exempted the owners of 191,000 businesses from income taxes altogether.

Supply-side, voodoo economics fails again. What to do? Maybe Kansas ain't Christian enough. Well, you know what is? Phil Robertson.

Along with eldest son Al, ‘Duck Dynasty’ star and family patriarch Phil Robertson has embarked on a new venture designed to share his faith in God with as many people as possible. Having already faced significant backlash from secular leftists over his Bible-based views of marriage, sex, and other issues, the 68-year-old has joined forces with Thomas Nelson Publishers to release a special edition of the Holy Bible.

I saw somewhere else it's priced at $29.99. I already have a copy stolen from a hotel room, unfortunately without Phil's explanation of how the gay is wrong and probably anyone not buying a copy is going to Hell anyway.

This has to go into the category of "more shit Matt and I probably agree."

A federal judge has turned down a request from a Guantanamo Bay hunger striker to alter the way he is force-fed, including the daily practice of inserting and removing his feeding tube.
 
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler on Friday ruled against Syrian prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab, who's been held at Guantanamo without charge for 12 years and was cleared for release in 2009.

This is disgraceful and, in this anyway, there is not a difference between Obama and Bush. If Phil's God exists they are both going to have a lot of explaining to do. Phil, himself, would likely find nothing wrong with force-feeding Guantanamo detainees. Preferably to sharks.

Random Thoughts on the Election

I'll start with this from Salon. Otherwise, I may just come back and add to this post.

On MSNBC, Chris Hayes argued that Democratic candidates erred in running away from Obama. So did an indignant Al Sharpton and even Republican Joe Scarborough. Many liberal pundits had urged Democrats to stand by their man. Paul Krugman recently called Obama “one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history.”

My feelings exactly. I sent a message to my candidate, Aaron Woolf, telling him not to run away from ACA after he told a reporter he wouldn't give a hypothetical answer to whether he'd have voted yes on it. I told him the answer I 'd have liked to see was, "I would have voted yes on it. If I'd been in the Congress way back, I'd have voted yes on Social Security and Medicare, too. And you know what, Republicans are still trying to get rid of all three."

This was in the news today:

(T)he country churned out 214,000 net new jobs last month.

That kept alive a nine-month streak over the 200,000 benchmark, and a record 56 months straight of growth in the US jobs market.

"With today's report, the unemployment rate is falling as fast as at any point in the last thirty years, and the economy is on pace for its best year of job growth since the late 1990s," said Jason Furman, Obama's top economic advisor.

The data suggested even more strength than that: the numbers for the previous two months were revised upward, and showed that the economy is smoothly absorbing more entrants and returnees into the jobs market.

And yes, the article did say that wage gains were not what they could be. But, as much as I think Matt Funiciello is an arrogant jerk bastard, it would be nice to see a Dem or two with the same spirit. It wouldn't surprise me if the Dems in the district actually do give him a veto on their candidate in 2016.Here's a little something for his supporters:


Obama’s failings are those of a generation of Democrats whose flaw is not how they campaign but how they govern. The only problem with their ‘message’ is that they often don’t mean it. They’re no more apt to change than the donors and consultants who hold their reigns are apt to let them. Since they’re too afraid to emancipate themselves others will have to do it for them, if necessary by primary.

Those possible ‘others’ are mighty disaffected. Do they still think the Democratic Party worth the time and effort that it takes to write a new agenda, build a new movement and challenge old leadership? I don’t know that they do. I only know that I’ve spent my life in that party and that nothing short of its utter transformation can save it now.

Also from Salon (yes, I use this blog to bookmark shit):

Amid this week’s disastrous Democratic drubbing, Connecticut emerged as one of the few bright spots for Democrats. Facing a formidable challenge from wealthy investor Tom Foley, whom he defeated by less than one percentage point in 2010, Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy secured another term, fending off Foley 51 to 48 percent. For Democrats seeking a way forward after Tuesday’s rout, Malloy’s victory is instructive: when Democrats build a record of progressive achievements — and run campaigns based on that record — they can win.

Running against a multimillionaire opponent who paid only $673 in federal taxes in 2013, Malloy naturally lobbed plenty of populist rhetorical barbs at Foley. But Malloy also boasted something many Democrats who lost Tuesday night did not — an actual track record of economic populist accomplishments. Malloy could point to specific policies he’d signed into law — most notably, mandatory paid sick leave and the nation’s first-ever state-level minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour — that benefited Connecticut families but would be jeopardized if Foley, who opposed those policies, won the governorship.

My italics, also something for Funiciello supporters, point the bullshit that there's no difference between Dems and Reps. Matt would be attacking Malloy for not getting them $15 an hour.


“The core economic issues – such as the minimum wage increase and paid sick days – really drew a contrast between Malloy and Foley, partly because they are issues that really resonate with everybody,” Farrell said. “Everybody has a sense that everybody who works should be paid a decent wage and people who get sick shouldn’t have to choose between their health and losing their job or losing their pay.”

But, Farrell noted, Malloy signed both paid sick leave and the minimum wage increase into law despite encountering opposition among more moderate Democrats in the state legislature, particularly on the former.

“When we passed paid sick days, when we passed the minimum wage increase, it wasn’t easy,” she said. “We had a lot of opposition from more moderate Democrats. In Connecticut, there are strong Democratic majorities in both chambers, but you get a lot of opposition from moderate, corporate Democrats. So if they had won the day on those issues, we’d probably be preparing for Gov. Foley right now, because Malloy would have been without these strong economic justice issues to run a campaign on.”

Yes, there are ball-less Dems in Connecticut. The moral here is to be more progressive. Change has to come to the Democratic Party, though. Unless you believe in magic.

Well, do ya? Then vote Green!

Election Hangover

Not literally, though that 16 hours at the polls was a bit draining. My candidate, Aaron Woolf, lost fairly badly. He received 32% of the vote to Elise Stefanik's 53%. Green Party candidate, Matt Funiciello received 11% of the vote and enough of my attention to merit this posting. Here's Kingmaker Extortionist Matt in his concession speech.

Yes, that's right, the candidate that got 32% was the spoiler for the guy that got 11%. And no, you did not get 12 to 16% Matt. He did not win against anyone, anywhere, including Warren County where he should have been strongest. He got 24% there and it went rapidly downhill in the other 11 counties. 

I don't know why he's not running for president. His winning that is about as realistic as the chances of his winning in this district.