Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Of course this is much too complex for our (I really do believe) intellectually-challenged state legislature to comprehend, but here is a clear explanation of why supporting smart urban growth (even bike paths!) can aid farmers and others who live the rural life.
This via my new favourite local happenings thoughts events blog, the unequivocal notion.
Monday, February 16th, 2009
Yesterday I felt so wonderfully vindicated as I read the best explanation of why “journalists” act as oddly (establishment-supportive) as they do, their mind-numbing fluff and bluster (across the board), and why there’s a horrid dearth of the watchdog of yore.
People like Brooks don’t merely expect that political officials will ignore and violate their own campaign commitments once they get into office. They think that political officials should do that, that it’s naive and foolish if political officials actually take seriously the commitments they make to citizens during a campaign.
the political and media establishment joining together to deliberately distort American public opinion and thus render it irrelevant in what the political class does [...] The most significant fact of American political life is that political journalists (of all people) see their role primarily as defenders of, servants to, spokespeople for the Washington establishment. That’s how they obtain all of their rewards and remain relevant.
Tie this to this op-ed by Frank Rich (“They Sure Showed That Obama”) in which he describes the hysteria by the media following several moves by Obama (including the most recent stimulus) wherein the sky was falling to the Beltway insiders and talking heads but Americans in general felt diametrically opposed (or “in a parallel universe,” as Rich quotes Axelrod).
I’m further encouraged in skimming this article (to which I’ll p’rhaps return later to read in full) in which Obama is seen as savvy and practical (or as the title says, “An Eternal Optimist — But Not A Sap“). High points: clarity about goals but flexibility about tactics, constant reevaluation of efficacy of plans, elasticity, responsiveness, the long view:
and open to adjusting his own course to bring others along or simply to respond to evidence that his ideas aren’t working. But repeatedly he declared that no one should interpret that to mean he lacks any clarity about his goals: “My consistent bottom line is: How do we make sure that the American people can work, have a decent income, look after their kids and we can grow the economy.” Any compromises or course corrections, he argued, must serve those overriding priorities.
It’s very interesting that the “steering from point to point” is much in line with a book (excellent, thx Z.), on project management, advocating setting short term deliverables and inherent tasks with precision, but adopting a more flexible approach for items further out which may need to be adjusted or for which circumstances may dictate change.
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
I just wrote Claire McCaskill (D Sen. of Missouri) because I like what she had to say.
INRE your recent actions as reported at {link above}
- Calling recent actions with bonuses “They don’t get it”
- Calling an add-ons to the stimulus package “ammunition for the other side to tear this thing down”
- Your bill to cap compensation at $400,000/yr. for recipients of bailout moneyI STAND AND APPLAUD YOU.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
PS: She’s on Twitter.
Addendum 01 Feb: Speaking of who “doesn’t get it”: here’s some facts and figures on the Republicans.
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
International Herald Tribune article: government transparency, ethics. It’s all good.
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