Back at it

First blog post in 2 years. Is it a blog if no one reads? Ah well. I'm not picky. Sometimes its good just to vent.

Zen koan #1

Assymetrical Information http://www.janegalt.net/ has questions where she asks supporters of both candidates to answer some questions about why she should support one or the other. Pointing to Kerry's lackluster legislative record, she asks why she should want him for president, or why her libertarian heart shouldn't be warmed. Anyway, I speculated that Kerry could have kept getting reelected by the time honored method of doling out pork. Then I got to wondering:

Is it government pork if it goes to the Cato Institute?

Its not as funny now as it seemed earlier. Its 1 am and I should be in bed.

Local politics

I hate the fact that municipal elections in most Texas cities are held in May. These are officially nonpartisan positions in most of the West, but let's not kid ourselves: these men and women have the largest role in affecting the day-to-day structure of our lives, and their political outlooks matter.

Kerry and Bush don't decide whether your trash gets picked up once or twice a week, they don't decide whether the police are responding to calls within 5 minutes or 20 minutes, they don't decide whether your kid is in a class with 20 or 30 other students, and they don't have much to do with things like local corporate tax breaks and giveaways. Those are negotiated by city and school board leaders, prioritizing out of a limited budget.

Kerry and Bush will have some effect on that budget, but they aren't going to do much of that prioritizing, because the feds mostly just give large lump sums (block grants) and let the cities and schools figure out what to do with it.

Which brings me back to my gripe: in presidential election years, we have around 60-75% of registered voters voting. In May elections, something like 10 - 20% of registered voters make it to the polls in the two cities I have experience with (Fort Worth and San Antonio). A very few people are deciding some of the most important races.

In New York, federal, state and municipal elections were all held at the same time, and people had a much stronger voice.

Malaria vaccine!

One of the most important discoveries of the last year is a malaria vaccine that actually works. This will probably have a more long term effect on Africa (possibly the world) than anything else going on right now. Its not 100% effective, but it does provide protection to 58% of those who receive it from the more serious forms of the disease.

If every child in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America had easy access to malaria vaccine and a simple saline solution for diarrheal diseases, infant and child mortality rates would drop like a brick. Clean drinking water would help, too, but lets not go crazy or anything.

Bill Gates' foundation probably had a leading role in funding this effort. I hope he and other international donors will fund the $10-$20 a dose that are necessary so that every child in every country that needs it will get this vaccine at roughly the same time.

If you severely reduce the reservoirs of infection quickly, resistant strains have a harder time spreading, if I remember my epidemiology correctly.

Now all we need is the health care delivery system of a Brazil in every developing country to carry AIDS medication to the people who need it. We'll still lose entire generations much earlier than we should have, but they'll have longer productive lives, and they'll be less sick for a much longer time.

What the presidency means

For those of us in the grassroots side of politics, we understand that the presidency and the US Congress don't mean a whole lot in terms of our day-to-day lives. Their main function on schools, welfare, transportation, and housing is budgetary, and those budgets don't change too radically even under Republicans. It often takes years for the effects of all but the biggest proposals to trickle down, and the numbers they play with are so huge that which party mostly just controls a small margin of money.

What really matters most to day-to-day life is state government, city government, and school districts. The presidential election will carry many of those local government positions because people will vote straight ticket who have never heard of any of the lower seats, and usually don't vote in those elections anyway.

The tenor of a state can change overnight. In 2000, Texas Democrats lost practically every close election - from local to statewide. With very few exceptions, Democrats were elected only in rock solid, mostly minority districts. Democrats totally out of power has meant huge cuts in social services, no political will to change school financing, and a complete collapse of environmental and consumer protection on the state level. This in a state near the bottom on most of these measures anyway.

And it wasn't President Bush. It was our state legislature that did most of it.

9:24 PM Bush keeps thumping the podium. Its weird. He's not preaching to the choir here.

My heart's not in it. I think I'm stopping.

8:15 PM Tax cuts...mmm.

LiveBlog the 3rd Debate

8:09 PM Bush flashed back to the Gore debate and emphasized the word "exagerration." Kerry flip-flops, he doesn't exagerate. Get it right, dammit!

8:11 PM Bush is kind of enunciating weirdly. Is it just me?

Impressions on the debate

They're not quite done, but I'm going to do my wrap up anyway. I think Kerry won, but not by a landslide. Bush sounded combative, but too much so. Kerry sounded and looked tired. They both had good command of material. I think Bush's meanness will turn off a lot of women voters, but Kerry didn't always sound great either. This is one that the conservatives will claim victory and be able to point to a few moments, and that progressives will claim as victory and be able to point to a few moments.

9:30 PM Bush blaming others - I appointed the wrong people.

9:29 PM Bush - "I'm always right! Na, na, na." So now we went to war with Iraq because Saddam gave out bribes.

9:28 PM Bush's culture of life doesn't extend to death row, does it.

9:27 PM Kerry calls Bush on what he actually believes.

9:23 PM Final stretch.

9:21 PM Kerry makes a backhanded attack on Scalia and Thomas.

9:20 PM Bush is interpreting the Dred Scott case. This is incredibly mangled from everything I've ever read, but most people won't know that.

9:18 PM Kerry attacks for waffling. This isn't going to play. But Bush started to sound pissed again.

9:17 PM I think that Kerry's exhaustion is starting to show. He's stumbled a bit in searching for words, and that didn't happen in the first debate.

9:16 PM Is anyone else tired of hearing about stem cells? I'm sorry, but this is such a small bore issue that I have a hard time getting heated up about.

9:13 PM Ashcroft has used the PATRIOT Act twice inappropriately? I hadn't heard it.

9:10 PM Small businesses create a lot of jobs, but they also lose a lot of jobs. They go up and down with the business cycle at the same rate as the big businesses, from what I've read. Its not a popular political argument, but its true.

9:07 PM Medical liability reform again. Kerry already said he's for it. I think its just a bad idea to contradict something that someone says about his own opinions. Bush is debating the Kerry he wants to debate, instead of the real Kerry. More problems with Bush's brain.

9:00 PM Bush on the environment. Most of what he talks about sounds sort of small scale. I don't know if this is a working strategy. "I proposed a hydrogen automobile" Is this like he invented it?.

9:02 PM Kerry says stop the labels. This might be a smart ploy. Americans don't like to be labelled.

9:03 PM Weird reference to the Kyoto treaty. I didn't hear Kerry talk about that, but maybe I missed it while typing.

8:57 PM Bush is going after the Senate record. Probably a smart thing for him to do.

8:57 PM I don't know if people will believe Bush over Kerry on Kerry's own plans. I usually don't think this works, unless the credibility gap is humongous.

8:55 PM Sorry, rich people. You're screwed if Kerry is elected.

8:54 PM Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Kerry's redirect on the tax cut sounds pretty sharp.

8:50 PM There were about 1 - 2 million people who didn't get a tax cut.

8:46 PM "Senator Kennedy is the most liberal senator." Most people agree that Ted Kennedy is the most liberal. And what's with beginning every response with "Where to start." If he keeps doing it, he's going to commit the equivalent of Gore's sighs.

8:48 PM Bush is accusing Kerry of not showing up. This might have some traction if Bush keeps pushing it.

8:42 PM On the other hand, there are a lot of seniors, and they do vote in large numbers.

8:41 PM I don't know how many people will hold President Bush accountable for being slow on drug reimportation.

8:40 PM Drug discount cards will last 1 year until the prescription drug Medicare plan is more fully implemented, and have had very few signups so far.

8:36 PM Kerry sounded shaky about why we haven't been attacked so far.

8:38 PM Kerry kind of recovered.

Live blog

8:14 PM Did Kerry break the rules? Not that I care, but I think he just addressed President Bush directly.

8:16 PM From the side view, it kind of looks like Kerry is trying to stare down Bush whenever Kerry is answering a question.

8:18 PM Bush is repeating a lot of the same talking points as before. Didn't we hear them enough at the first debate.

8:22 PM Kerry looks really tired in this one. Large bags under the eyes.

8:22 PM Shinseki is "retired" now instead of "fired." I think he got called

8:23 PM Finally, Kerry brought up the weapons inspectors. He should have done it more in the first debate.

8:24 PM Both men seem angry tonight.

8:26 PM Edwards and Kerry seemed better in reaction partly because they were looking down to write notes. Bush is looking at Kerry and looks sort of confused.

8:27 PM Bush trying to play off his weird tics from before.

8:29 PM Bush continues to sound really angry. Kerry is taking it down a notch, I think.

8:32 PM Bush now sounds really pissed about "go-it-alone." This is not going to help him with women in general.

Watching the debates

I'll liveblog a bit, just for fun.

Driven by painful necessity

It was either start a blog or continue to rip my hair out and yell at the radio. I even started fruitlessly calling some of the right wing talk shows to try to argue. My mental health demanded that I begin this exercise in narcissism. Plus, I enjoy ranting and raving as much as the next guy.