Progressives
mikethemadbiologist | July 20, 2007By way of Brad Delong, I stumbled across this column by Washington Post editor Ruth Marcus calling for merit pay for teachers. Centrist Democrats, particularly those who suffer from a touch of Compulsive Centrist Disorder, have been pushing this since the early 80s. And it makes no sense to me.
When I think about science education, these are the areas that I think need dramatic improvement:
1) Fully equipped science laboratories. You actually have to do some science occasionally.
2) Funding for the occasional trip to a museum, nature preserve, or science lab.
3) Smaller class sizes.…
mikethemadbiologist | July 19, 2007It's bad enough when the mainstream media engages in ersatz psychology and semiotics. It's even worse when this pseudoanalysis has a bias--it's like Colbert's truthiness, except that it's not funny (italics mine):
Consider, then, the cheesesteak.
While running for president, John Kerry ordered a cheesesteak with Swiss cheese. The sane response to that fact is, of course, "who cares?" The media response was to mock Kerry for ordering the "wrong" cheese. Supposedly, it reinforced his "elitist" image. Kerry's cheesesteak order continues to draw media attention years later.
During that same…
mikethemadbiologist | June 15, 2007Joe Klein was very angry last week at 'uncivil' bloggers, and in a storming fit of something that kinda looks like anger, only wimpier, came up with a list of attributes belonging to "left-wing extremists." I've gone through the list and added my own commentary.
Klein's list:
A left-wing extremist exhibits many, but not necessarily all, of the following attributes:
--believes the United States is a fundamentally negative force in the world.
Nope.
--believes that American imperialism is the primary cause of Islamic radicalism.
I think it is one cause. That's why cluster is in the word…
mikethemadbiologist | June 9, 2007..."Fellow liberals, never forget that fifty years ago, this man would have been lynched. Progressives and liberals are the reason he isn't lynched today", the picture below is exactly what I was talking about:
(larger image here)
mikethemadbiologist | May 15, 2007As regular readers of this blog* know, I'm not particularly fond of the 'progressive' netroots, largely because I don't know what they stand for, and what little I do know doesn't strike me as particularly compelling. Over at MaxSpeak, there's an excellent take on the netroots, which includes some points I hadn't considered. Let's turn it over to Max (italics mine; I've added a relevant link to me):
1. The liberal netroots are soft on Democrats in every issue area except Iraq.
2. The liberal netroots are tough on Iraq, but narrow in their criticisms, since fundamentally the liberal…
mikethemadbiologist | May 8, 2007Or socialist. Or maybe just Swedish. By way of Ezra Klein, I came across these polling data collected by Ruy Teixeira:
If you hold both of these views (and arguably, even just one), you are an economic liberal. Not a moderate, but a liberal. I realize many people don't want to be called liberals, but these positions have historically been identified as liberal. And guess what? Liberals hold liberal positions. If you want to call yourself Martian, that's fine, but you're a liberal Martian.
There seems to be more of us too (liberals, not Martians): the majority--not a plurality, a…
mikethemadbiologist | March 27, 2007I ask this seriously. Among rank and file Democrats, there is a common belief that Democratic politicians are being dragged to right by the need for compromise. But I don't think that's the case with Clinton: she is a conservative Southern Democrat without the regional accent. And the southern blue dogs have been pretty weak on the Iraq Occupation. From Matt Stoller (italics mine):
There is just no way that she can say that she will end the war and that she will continue a military mission in Iraq to contain extremists and ward off Iran. Those are mutually exclusive. As Matthew…
mikethemadbiologist | March 9, 2007There's something very interesting about the unfolding story of the possible FDA cefquinome approval (I've covered it here). After doing a Technorati search, virtually all of the blogs that discuss this issue are either non-partisan or progressive/liberal (I say 'virtually' because I might have missed one, but I actually didn't see any). The rightwing bloggysphere is nowhere to be found. Any thoughts on why that might be? Maybe they are just slow off the mark on this one? Infections don't check political affiliation....
mikethemadbiologist | February 18, 2007Chris Bowers of MyDD.com has one of the most bizarre posts I've ever read about our Glorious Progressive Internet Comrades Marching Valiantly...to somewhere. Bowers writes:
Also, no matter how many presidential candidates, members of congress, Democratic Party leaders, or other national figures I meet and talk with, my favorite moments in political campaigns are always large rallies (preferably those organized by volunteers, or those convened to celebrate an electoral victory). I want to be there at the moment when history happens, when the world changes, when consciousness shifts, and when…
mikethemadbiologist | February 15, 2007There's an interesting interview with Mara Vanderslice about her attempts to integrate 'religious' people (i.e., Christian--funny how Jews and Muslims, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic aren't part of the 'religious' left according to Vanderslice) into the Democratic party. While I've ripped into Vanderslice before, there's a lot I agree with, particularly the need for Democrats to define their policies in moral terms, not technocratic ones. But then I hit this paragraph (italics mine):
I hope that I'll find a way to continue to pioneer this path for the Democrats. I'd love to be involved…
mikethemadbiologist | January 7, 2007While Iraq was the national backdrop for the 2006 elections, individually many campaigns succeeded (or did better than they had any right to do) due to a desire to end corruption (e.g., the Ohio state elections). Yet Rahm Emanuel, head of the DCCC, and the Congressional Black Caucus ('CBC') just don't seem to get that. First, Rahm Emanuel.
In Mark Foley's old district (FL-16), David Lutrin, a progressive liberal, was poised to run against Mark Foley. He certainly wouldn't have been a favorite to win, but then again, many successful Democrats didn't look like winners in early 2005 either.…
mikethemadbiologist | November 15, 2006I like it like that. Webb writes dirty words in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. You know, words like "class" and "elites." Says Webb (italics mine):
The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved…
mikethemadbiologist | November 9, 2006A new Carnival of the Liberals is up at Philosophy, et cetera. My contribution is here. This is a 'meta' edition that deals with political discourse, so there are some very interesting posts over there. Check it out.
mikethemadbiologist | November 8, 2006Already, you're seeing two competiting ideas about why the Democrats did so well in the election. This argument matters, particularly within the Democratic party, because, once again, the chicken shit loser centrist Democratic establishment is urging Democrats to move to the right.
The centrist argument is that this was a backlash phenomenon, and that Democrats shouldn't behave like Democrats--by that I mean that the Democrats should abandon Pelosi's 'radical' 100 hours. Because raising the minimum wage and reforming the House rules is just too lefty.
(an aside: Democratic congressman and…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006This week's Carnival of Liberals, hosted by Philosophy, et cetera, asks contributors to submit posts that "assess the state of political discourse, or the question of how politics should be conducted." So, let's talk about that state of political discourse.
One problem that's always bothered (and intrigued) me is how citizens and voters are supposed to decide highly technical issues. Every day, the government, whether it be local, state, or federal, makes decisions about verycomplex issues that require a great deal of knowledge and training. As an example, ask yourself if you can assess…
mikethemadbiologist | October 31, 2006While I don't think arguing for or against religious particulars is something any political party should adopt a few days before an election (or should be a political issue at all, for that matter), PZ is absolutely right when he says that Robertson and his ilk should be called out for the foolish bigots that they are. We wouldn't tolerate racially-based hatred (Got Macaca?), so why should we tolerate 'faith-based' hatred? O'Donnell was doing what was needed: staking out the flank.
If politicians won't do anything while El Jefe Maximo wipes his ass with the First, Fourth, Fifth Amendment,…
mikethemadbiologist | October 29, 2006A while ago, I described how I feel estranged from the internet Progressives:
Bloggers like Kos constantly remind people that the lefty blogosphere isn't liberal (sounds kinda like the DLC doesn't it?). Actually to say that the internet progressives don't stand for much of anything is unfair. It's just that what most of what the internet progressives stand for is what any sane, reality-based person should stand for.
I bring this up because Jerome a Paris, over at Daily Kos, asks "Is DailyKos a rightwing website?"
He then describes the typical response to two issues he regularly raises,…
mikethemadbiologist | October 27, 2006More than a few conservatives are upset about the Michael J. Fox commercials because they're unfair: how do you respond to the emotional pull of someone who has Parkinson's disease? If you watch the full-length CBS interview, Couric cruelly hammers Fox over and over with the question of if he overexaggerated his symptoms for the commercial (she's obviously trying hard to dispel the image of being the nicest of the big three anchors). But where she truly entered the realm of tastelessness was when she repeated Rush Limbaugh's charge that Democrats use victims for political purposes.…
mikethemadbiologist | September 30, 2006I agree with Digby that progressives have to stand for something more than winning.
mikethemadbiologist | September 27, 2006And one of my favorite liberal wonks was wearing glasses while doing so. That has to hurt. Seriously, Waldman did a brilliant thing: he shifted the discussion onto his terms. Instead of the storyline being "liberals are mean to Bill O'Loofa O'Reilly", it became "why can't conservatives respond to criticism in any other way than crying 'Smear'"? Nicely done.
(link here)
A completely unrelated aside: Our Benevolent Seed Overlords want a picture of the Mad Biologist for their own nefarious purposes. So I ask you: what do you think a Mad Biologist would look like? Click here to offer your…