She Thought It Was A Comedy Show

Judith Miller mistakenly stumbled into a real interview. It was kinda like we stumbled into a fuckin' debacle in Iraq thanks to Judith Miller's fine journalistic skills and the lying warmongers she worked for in the Bush White House.

Wednesday night, Miller sat down with Jon Stewart and he gave a master class in adversarial journalism; something Miller was obviously incapable of in the run-up to the war. Several things are notable about the interview that was so contentious you could feel the studio audience holding their collective breath because comedic schtick was being set aside and the type on interviewing that should happen on “Meet The Press” was happening in real time.

Thank you, Jon Stewart. You will be missed. Judith Miller, please crawl into a hole somewhere. 

Possibly Making Al Franken The Second Best Pol In Minnesota

Thanks to Charles Pierce for the link to this MoJo article on Mark Dayton. Heir to a corporate fortune and a Democrat, how bad is that? I'm just going to link to it because it's kinda long. And it's all so good that it should all be read. Disappointed that it will be his last term as guv there. Happy to see he has Dems to work with in his legislature. Though I know that some think there is no difference.

And then, there is Scott Walker to call bullshit on that idea.

Fuck it, we'll give Al some love, too.

Franken is a fascinating politician. His public profile is practically non-existent, at least by the yappy standards of the cable-news, clickbait era. He is a first-class fundraiser; his work on behalf of Senator Professor Warren was the stuff that dreams are made of, but he never gives you the sense on the stump that he's trading on his celebrity. And, in the Senate, he's gone out of his way to prove himself a workhorse, and not a show-pony, without ever giving the impression that he's overcompensating for having been a next-level comedian for all those years. He is a Minnesota liberal in the tradition of Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone, but both Humphrey and Wellstone were more visible politicians than Franken has been.

Dems equal Reps, blah fuckin' blah. 

Post Earth Day Hangover Post

I love the yin and the yang of the daily news. I feel it's important not to feel too much unbridled joy at the positive or untrammeled despair at the negative. Good news first.

Given advances in renewable energy, battery storage, government regulations, and more, there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic that the world is making progress toward a cleaner energy future. 

Here's a taste of that juicy optimism, for the other four head off to the link.

Clean energy is expanding worldwide, and wind and solar in particular are driving the shift from carbon-intensive fossil fuels to renewable sources. This could be a banner year, particularly in the US.

In 2015, the US will install more renewables than ever before.

OK, here's one more.

A huge amount of energy produced worldwide is wasted through inefficiencies, and over the last decade countries in the developed world and beyond have made great strides toward using energy more wisely.

Eighteen developed countries – including the US, UK, and France – saved more energy through efficiency measures from 2001 and 2011 than China used in 2011.

So, here's the bad news, not that I'm a fan of Tim McGraw. A bigger fan of him than I am of gun nuts, though. 

A social-media firestorm broke out last week at the news that superstar country musician Tim McGraw will be headlining a benefit concert for a nonprofit aimed at protecting children from gun violence.

Proving once again that the road to protecting children from gun violence is paved with criticism from the NRA. 

Gallup Not Aware That Democrats = Republicans

Yes, it's shocking that a "reputable" polling organization like Gallup could make this huge mistake. This is definitely a sampling error of some sort.

There's also no indication of where Greens stand on the issue. I'm still trying to discover that myself. In other Democrat/Republican hybrid news: Lincoln Chafee is running for president as a Democrat. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing what he has to say. 

Unlike Webb, who ran as an antiwar candidate at a time when Democrats had already turned on Iraq, Chafee was one of only seven Republicans who voted against authorizing the Iraq invasion that Clinton supported. “It just wasn’t evident that Saddam was a threat,” he says, bothered still. “It was all talk. And now we live with the ramifications.”

In fact, despite enormous pressure, Chafee opposed virtually the entire Bush agenda in the Senate, including tax cuts for the wealthy. He is an ardent environmentalist (his father, Sen. John Chafee, was a hero of the movement), and he endorsed Obama twice.

Is it any wonder he's no longer a Republican, unless you are afflicted with Funiciello Syndrome. 

Happy Earth Day

In celebrating the day we honor the only planet we have, I'm going to write about our district's Green Party candidate, now and forever, for Congress. Matt's second radio gig is coming up tomorrow. How is he honoring Earth Day? By having as a guest, Robert Schultz. Funiciello purports to be a progressive of some sort, but combined with his statement in The Chronicle interview about "needing guns to protect ourselves from tyranny," getting together with Schultz is a little suspicious. I'm going to need to see some better Green bona fides before I can support him.

Not to give unwanted advice, but first don't take any tax tips, Matt. Secondly, I have to question what kind of guests he's going to get to follow Schultz. I'd think that's not company most folks are gonna want to keep.

Progressives like this, we don't need. Let's see. Zero criticism of Rep. Stefanik or Republicans in general unless you count saying Reps and Dems are equally bad. And now palling around with sovereign citizens.

REAL EARTH DAY NEWS: Lifted from Chas. Pierce, a story of crumbling oil and gas pipelines and the politicians who don't give a fuck. Here, a gift for Matt:

The Democratic party has been feckless and timid on this subject. The Republicans, on the other hand, especially now that the Supreme Court has legitimized influence peddling on a grand scale, have been little more than vandals. That makes a difference, or ought to, anyway. 

AND TBOGG: With reasons to vote Dem.

Please Let The Rest Of Us Know How This Works Out

Yeah, it's gonna be guns everywhere in Texas.

Indeed, lawmakers in some ways spoke up on behalf of a minority of Texas residents who want to see an increase in open-carry. Only one in three Texans want to see open-carry without a permit, and only 45 percent are okay with open-carry with a permit – which is what the legislature finally adopted. In a recent University of Texas survey, only one in 10 Texans wanted to see open carry without a permit, and 25 percent said no one should carry handguns openly in public.

Legislating for the extremists in your state. Yes, I'm sure that's what the founding fathers had in mind. Bless y'all!

I'm going to tack this onto this post because it's gun craziness and connects to Texas via faux candidate for president Ted Cruz. Apparently, Green Eggs and Smarm is on the opposite side of gun issues from the US military.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas believes that troops should be able to carry their personal firearms with them on base – a point of view that puts him at odds with a number of top US military officials, including former commanders in America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This doesn't bother him, he says. “The military brass opposes this,” he told Fox News Tuesday. “But I’m a big believer in defending the Second Amendment rights of everyone, including our soldiers.”

Likewise, military brass has at times spoken out against the National Rifle Association, for example, when the organization launched a bid to keep commanders from talking to soldiers about the safety of keeping personal firearms in their homes.

I know the Right is all rah rah on the police and military, but pretty sure the day is coming soon where that will turn around. Obviously, you already have militia folks who see them as the enemy. 

Please Nominate Scottie Walker

Courtesy of Charles Pierce comes this link.

A new Marquette Law School Poll finds Gov. Scott Walker’s job approval rating has fallen to 41 percent, with 56 percent of registered voters in Wisconsin saying they disapprove of how he is handling his job as governor. In the previous poll, in October 2014, Walker’s approval among registered voters was 49 percent, with 47 percent disapproving.

To look ahead to a possible 2016 presidential matchup, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Walker in Wisconsin, 52 percent to 40 percent.

And how's our current prez looking these days, you may ask.

Obama's overall approval rating is now 47 percent to 46 percent, the first time more approved than disapproved since June 2013. 

More good news from the Marquette poll was that...

In a possible 2016 U.S. Senate race, former Sen. Russ Feingold has the support of 54 percent of registered voter, leading incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, who has 38 percent.

I'd forgotten that Feingold was coming back to the Senate, at least if that poll is any indication. He will be a welcome re-addition.