I just heard an interview of Hillary Clinton on VPR a couple of minutes ago, and the interviewer was pushing her on whether she's okay with winning with superdelegate votes even if she loses the popular vote. (By the way, I'm okay with it–we knew the rules going in, and I think there are good reasons for the superdelegate system.)

What I thought was interesting was the way she seems to be trying out a new line on why she should win. Even if she doesn't get the popular vote in all the primaries combined, we should look at states where the Democratic candidate can win. She said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that we're not going to win Alaska, or Utah, or South Dakota anyway (states that Obama won) but we can, and we need to, win states like Michigan and Florida. The implication was that they should count more in deciding who the nominee should be.

Of course, they do, because they have more delegates. Still, she seemed to be saying more, like maybe discounting the results of even big states if we are pretty sure they are going to go for McCain.

Maybe this isn't so much about Alaska and Utah as it is about the fact that we now know that she also lost Texas, but it seems to demonstrate a certain level of desperation on her part, leading to another in the shifting rationales for her candidacy. 

Cross posted at Rational Resistance

 In certain circles it is popular to talk about a parliamentary system as a corrective to the polarizing, winner-take-all system we have here. As we hear the complaint in some places, the two-paprty system silences or ignores minority viewpoints, and causes a conformity that favors middle-of-the-road, status quo politicians and shuns real change.

There are reasons to question whether a parliamentary system would solve these problems, or simply create bigger ones.

The New York Times Magazine carried an article a couple of weeks ago about Israel's system for determining Jewish identity. This is important primarily because, since Israel lacks civil marriage, the only way to get married is through a Jewish ceremony, and that, in turn, requires the parties to demonstrate their Jewishness. The article talks about how this has gotten harder and harder for a number of reasons, including the fact that the Jewish identification system has fallen under the sway of a more and more rigidly ultra-Orthodox rabbinical establishment. So rigid that one official is quoted in the article referring to a Conservative rabbi in America as a goy.

What does this have to do with a parliamentary system?

One thing the parliamentary fans say is definitely true. A parliamentary system, rather than silencing or ignoring minority views, includes them in the structure of government, and bestows upon them real power. In Israel, since neither of the two leading parties can command a majority, the only way either one of them can form a government is by allying itself with other, smaller parties. Over the years the strength of these ultra-Orthodox parties has grown, so that by this point they hold 18 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, and the government has obtained the favor of the ultra-Orthodox by appointing them to the rabbinical court, that has the power over marriage and divorce, and that, consequently, is charged with determining who is a Jew. And who they determine is not a Jew is a pretty long list, including lots of converts, lots of people who have trouble proving their identity through synagogue records of matrilineal descent, and lots of people from America, who often aren't considered Jewish enough.

If they want to do this, it's their country, I'll probably never even visit, so they can go ahead and do it.

On the other hand, picture a similar situation here, in which Jerry Falwell, James Hagee, and a handful of their buddies were so politically powerful that they could veto any marriage if they didn't approve of the couple, and they held this power in Democratic and Republican administrations because they hold the balance of power. So if you were Catholic, or Mormon, or Unitarian, or Jewis, or, god forbid, atheist, they could just deny you the ability to marry and there would be nothing you could do about it.

At that point you could say that we've opened up the government to a minority view, and they no longer feel marginalized, and maybe they even vote at a higher rate than we do because they feel that their votes count. I'd look at the same situation and say that the parliamentary system has given a small minority almost dictatorial powers. and I wouldn't like it.

So maybe this parliamentary thing isn't all its adherents say it is.

You may have seen this report in today's paper: 

Vt. delegation gets A+ for poverty votes March 11, 2008 By Dan Barlow Vermont Press Bureau Vermont's congressional delegation received extremely high marks for its voting records last year on poverty issues, according to a new report, just as most of those bills failed to get the support necessary to pass the U.S. Senate.

A 40-page report from the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law gave both U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch an A+ for their voting record while U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy received an A.

Vermont joined Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island as the only four states whose Washington delegation received all A marks on their voting record on poverty bills, according to the report.

 To see the full report, go here.

 I think this is great news, partly because it highlights the work of the National Center on Poverty Law, formerly known as Clearinghouse, whose publications I've been reading ever since I started work as a Legal Aid lawyer back in 1979.

What's more telling, though, is the next two paragraphs:

Yet, despite the fact that most of the members in the U.S. House and Senate received passing grades on their poverty voting records, most of these proposals did not muster up enough votes to actually pass both chambers, especially in the Senate where the threat of a filibuster from Republicans forced supporters to seek a minimum of 60 votes to end debate.

“That's something I don't think the America people understand,” said Sanders, who said Republicans are “obstructing” the work of the Senate. “A lot of these votes were not yes or no on the specific bill. They were yes or no to end a filibuster.” Poverty has not been an attractive issue for politicians to talk about in recent years, but the 2005 hurricane tragedy in New Orleans made people realize “we had taken our eyes off the ball for a few years,” according to John Bouman, the president of the Poverty Center, which released its report on Monday.

That's right. We have every reason to be proud of our delegation, but it's important to remember that what is blocking progress is the Republicans across the country.

Ronald Reagan and his war on the poor continues to rule the national scene. 

Cross posted at Montpelier Matters. 

Here in Montpelier we're lucky to have two hardware stores, right next to each other, where you can get great service, good selection, and competitive pricing, and, if you live in town, you don't even need to burn any gas to get there. I'm talking, of course, about our local Aubuchon and Somers Hardware, right on Main Street. Barre also has a great local hardware store, Nelson Brothers True Value. If your needs are a little more extensive you can get all your lumber and remodeling needs at Allen Lumber, and they deliver right to your house.

So what do we need with another Home Depot?

A local group, Citizens for Community and Local Prosperity is asking that very question. 

On Monday, March 10, you can hear Stacy Mitchell, theauthor of Big Box Sindle, speak at the Labor Hall in Barre. The event is at 6:00, it's free, and the author will be siging copies of the book.

For more information call 272-8543 or email CCLP AT vtlink.net 

Cross-posted at Rational Resistance.

 How about a book by the stupidest fucking guy on the face of the earth?

The benefit of getting out of the administration early is that you get to retaliate against the truth by getting your story out earlier, and if you're Doug Feith, you probably need it, given that you were one of the prime movers and architects of the Iraq invasion.

Still, even Feith has the ability to commit a massive faux pas by blurting out the truth. We already knew it, but it's good to have it confirmed:

Among the disclosures made by Feith in “War and Decision,” scheduled for release next month by HarperCollins, is Bush's declaration, at a Dec. 18, 2002, National Security Council meeting, that “war is inevitable.” The statement came weeks before U.N. weapons inspectors reported their initial findings on Iraq and months before Bush delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Feith, who says he took notes at the meeting, registered it as a “momentous comment.”

You might think that so many years later it hardly matters, but I think the truth is inherently important, especially as we debate the positions our presidential candidates took on going into the war in the first place.

Cross-posted from Rational Resistance

It's only a certain category of people who will know the name Gary Gygax, but if you're in that category, he's probably important to you. Gary Gygax was one of two people who invented Dungeons and Dragons, the role-playing game (RPG) that's been popular among those who proudly call themselves nerds and social outcasts since 1974.

Gygax died today at the age of 69.

I've never played D&D, but my two sons play D&D and many other RPG's, so I've been in the vicinity of many a game. People are inclined to look down on the game and those who play it, but I think they're really missing something.

Think a little bit about what we want our kids to do as they grow up. Among other things, we want them to be creative, we want them to learn to understand how to deal with people who are different from themselves, we want them to learn how to meet a challenge, come up with an inventive way to solve it, and to work cooperatively to achieve their goals, and D&D teaches all those things. Sure, they're battling with orcs, trolls, paladins, dwarves, and other fictional creatures, but the game isn't sitting around and wishing you were a knight, and it's not slashing and killing, it's playing roles, thinking about your character traits, and developing and pursuing a strategy.

There are kids who are going to sit in their rooms and write poetry and short stories, but a lot of kids won't do that. Still, when you're writing an adventure, you're writing fiction, and if it doesn't hold together it won't be any good. I don't want to overplay it, but I do want to suggest that you take another look at D&D and the people who play it and the other RPG's

I can't remember the last time our votes in Vermont were going to make a difference in the nomination battle, but that's where things stand this year and both presidential candidates have active campaigns in the state, so I invited both campaigns to join us at the Washington County Committee meeting tonight. I have to say it was a great discussion, even though we didn't give either campaign too much advance notice or preparation.

Actually, I'd invited Emily Polak, the Washington, Orange, and Caledonia County organizer for the Obama campaign, to join us a couple of weeks ago, back before I knew Clinton had staff people here; when I found that out last week I invited them.

Both sides were good enough to come. Emily, a young recent college graduate, was here for the Obama campaign, but she had to speak second, because the Clinton campaign was represented by Madeleine Kunin. Yes, that Madeleine Kunin, the first woman Governor of Vermont, former Deputy Secretary of Education, and former Ambassador to Switzerland.

 In other words, tough act to follow.

I thought this was great. Madeleine is a treasure, and people accorded her the respect she has earned. Her presentation was gracious, substantive, and informed by her personal knowledge of and relationship with both Clintons.

Then I invited Emily to speak, and she was great. Her presentation was also substantive; it was personal, informed by her perspective as a 25-year-old woman working at the job she's loved more than anything she's ever done, and infused with the enthusiasm that has infected young Obama supporters across the country. She definitely held her own following the Gov.  When she got done, Madeleine told her that she should run for office.

 I think people came away from the meeting feeling good about our choice this year, and about the future of the party. We heard from two smart, strong women, one of whom came from the years when our party was building, and one of whom represents our future.

 There's only a week left, so get involved:

Clinton campaign:

Steve Anderson

sanderson@hillaryclinton.com

(202)841-2237 

 Obama campaign:

 epolak@barackobama.com

rhill@barackobama.com 

Well, I thought it was a petty complaint and I wouldn't even have written about it, but now I'm not so sure.

I've been subscribing to the Burlington Free Press, daily and Sunday, ever since I moved to Vermont in 1983. Naturally, sometimes the delivery service is good, sometimes not so good. In the last few years it's been generally good, but last weekend we had two days in a row when we got an incomplete paper. Saturday we got a very skimpy paper, even skimpier than usual, but there was at least one section missing. I called and spent some time trying to deal with the awful (and new) voice recognition automated attendant, then I finally started hitting the 0 button until I got to talk to a human being, who advised me that it wouldn't be possible to have someone deliver the whole paper to my house.

Sunday, the same thing. I'm not sure what sections were missing, except I know for sure that the comics and the color supplement were missing, and I missed my Doonesbury and Dilbert, so I called again. Same routine, same repeated banging on the 0 button until I got to talk to someone. That time they promised they would send me a replacement paper, not that day (remember, they aren't bothering to deliver replacement papers anymore) but the next day, along with my Monday paper. They also promised to have a district manager call me.

Monday: no Sunday paper, no call from a district manager. So far, this just seems routine, right? Bad service from a company you do business with isn't usually surprising, it happens all the time. What makes it a bigger story is what I read in Seven Days this week:

Vermont’s largest daily newspaper, which is owned by media giant Gannett Company, has outsourced nearly all of its circulation and delivery calls to a regional calling center in Louisville, Kentucky. The change, which took effect about two months ago, is part of a push by the nation’s largest newspaper publishing chain to consolidate the business operations of its 85 media properties across the United States.

So thanks, Gannett: worse service, job losses for Vermonters, more irritated customers.

Oh, and if that district manager feels like calling, I have the same phone number you've had on file for me since 1983. 

Is there another candidate emerging in the presidential race in Vermont?

About a week ago I got a letter at home from Farrell Seiler, who describes himself as the Vermont Write-In Coordinator for Draft Gore USA.  The letter calls for a write-in campaign on Town Meeting Day to “show te nation that there is huge support for [Gore] at the grassroots. A large voter turnout for Al Gore is the quickest way to show America that Democrats already have an electable candidate for president.”

The letter refers you to the campaign's web page, www.VermontersForGore.com, and the credit line says it's paid for by Draft Gore USA, listing its web page as DraftGoreUSA.com.

Let a hundred flowers bloom, right?

The problem is, none of the URL's listed in the letter get you to anything but a “site under construction” page.

Maybe Vermont really isn't ready for a Gore write-in campaign.

Or maybe this is another sign to stay in the world of reality. 

I've posted an email to the guy who signed the letter, and I'll let you know what I find out. 

UPDATE: I heard from these guys this afternoon. Here's the link to their site, and it's no longer under construction: http://www.vermontersforgore.com/ 

Posted for the Vermont Obama campaign. When I hear about an office for the Clinton campaign I'll post that information, too. 

Hi Everyone,

Bring friends, family, and Obama supporters!

Here's the link to the Obama campaign.