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Category: Politics Page 28 of 73

BlueCommonwealth dot . . .

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On December 3, 2008

In Politics, Virginia

Well, this is a bit awkward.  One of the projects I’ve been working on (longer than I should have been, to be sure), was a community site oriented towards all of Virginia’s Democrats.  The project started back in August – ack, has it really been that long? – and after working through a number of different community software packages, I’d settled on one and had been hoping to launch it soon.  And where would it be?  Right here, at BlueCommonwealth.org.   An excellent name, I think.

And a couple other people thought so, too.  Last night, Josh Chernila (of the soon to be closed Raising Kaine) announced BlueCommonwealth.com, essentially as the continuation of Raising Kaine.  Serves me right for both being a little slow on the development, and for not buying the .com of the name earlier this year.   Unfortunately, it didn’t serve those who have been working with me on this right at all.  My fault, and my apologies.  And I wish Josh & crew the best of luck.

Not entirely sure how I’ll be moving forward with the (almost ready) BlueCommonwealth project, from a domain/branding standpoint, but it may well turn out that there will be two BlueCommonwealths (the irony of which is . . . well, it just is.).   Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.

The Queen Must Approve

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On December 2, 2008

In Politics

Looks like Canada’s Governor General – that is, Queen Elizabeth’s representative – will have some real work to do, for once.  Two of Canada’s left-leaning political parties – the NDP and Liberal Party – have come to a formal power-sharing agreement that will permit them to unseat the existing Conservative government.   They’ll do this with the help of Bloc Québécois (more of a self-leaning political party).   In order to do so, they’ll first have to win a confidence vote in Parliament, and presuming that happens, they’ll then go to the Governor General to seek her approval (on behalf of the Queen, of course) for formation of a new government.  The Governor General’s approval is, in practice, a mere formality.  But with the Conservative Party making noises about dissolving Parliament prior to the confidence vote, anything is possible, I suppose.

Excitement to the North!  Who knew?

Related: Here’s a very good background article on the mechanics – and possible problems – involved.  Note that it was written before the NDP and Liberals inked the deal.

Change.gov Embraces the Creative Commons

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On December 1, 2008

In Distribution, Policy, Politics

This is very encouraging:

In what can only be seen as a major coup for those of us who have been hoping that the Obama Administration would embrace a saner and more sensible thinking on questions of copyright than is the norm in Washington, Change.gov has swapped a strict copyright policy for among the liberalist of Creative Commons licenses.

And for those of you who have being playing the copyright game along at home, and are thinking “Wait, isn’t everything prepared by the Federal gov’t in the public domain already?”:

As a rather strange government-private hybrid entity, the Obama-Biden Transition Project doesn’t appear to be covered by government copyright rules which presume that what the government creates should be freely useable by the public.

I’m still not used to these flashes of sanity emanating from DC.

1500 Problems and That’s It, Virginia!

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On December 1, 2008

In Politics, Virginia

Waldo Jaquith notes that Virginia’s House of Delegates has imposed a limit on the number of bills each of its members may file in the upcoming session. That’s 15 bills each for its 100 members, resulting in no more than 1500 legislative issues to be dealt with.  While it first strikes me as yet more evidence of what a bunch of children they are – that they can’t be trusted to simply act out of necessity and moderation – it’s probably a good thing.

Watching India

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On December 1, 2008

In Politics, Society

Blake Hounshell, at the Foreign Policy magazine’s blog, captures the political forces in play right now in India and Pakistan:

It’s amazing how quickly India appears to be falling into the terrorists’ trap.

It seems obvious that Pakistan’s civilian government, led by President Asif Ali Zardari, has no interest in stirring up trouble between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. And it seems equally obvious that any elements of the ISI, Pakistan’s notorious intelligence service, who might have been in some way involved in the attacks in Mumbai would have done so in order to undermine rapprochement between Islamabad and New Delhi.

[ . . . ]

Yet one can already see public anger in India leading political developments in a direction the terrorists wanted. Some Indian politicians have been less than careful in saying the terrorists were sent by Pakistan, the state, rather than that they came from Pakistan, the country (which hasn’t even been confirmed yet, anyway). India is considering halting talks over Kashmir and ending the five-year cease-fire along the Line of Control. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has vowed to “go after” those responsible for the attacks, which could box him into the dangerous step of taking action against Lashkar-e-Taiba within Pakistan-held territory.

The whole thing is worth a read (as is his earlier penned piece on the contradictory accounts of the attacks themselves).

Update: Juan Cole offers a good companion piece to the article above, focusing on what Pakistan needs to do (and putting it in useful historical context).

Canada Getting a New Government?

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On December 1, 2008

In Politics

Recall that Canada recently held an election, and ended up with the same situation that gave rise to the election in the first place – a minority government in the Conservative Party’s hands.  Looks like the opposition may actually be getting its act together:

A Liberal-NDP coalition agreement that would replace the minority Conservative government was being fleshed out Sunday night, the CBC has learned.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has shown the outline of an agreement between his party and the New Democratic Party to Liberal leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff, Dominic LeBlanc and Bob Rae, the CBC’s Keith Boag reported, citing sources.

“They’re discussing this tonight in Toronto,” he said from Ottawa.

The NDP would hold 25 per cent of cabinet positions, Boag said, adding that the finance minister and the deputy prime minister would be Liberals.

It’ll be interesting to see if they can pull it off.  And even more interesting if they do.  Why?

The Bloc Québécois would not officially be a part of the coalition, but the new government’s survival would depend on their support, he said.

Good luck.

Friday Notes: Expectations Edition

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On November 21, 2008

In DC, Policy, Politics, Society

Not entirely sure what to think of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano at DHS, but knowing that she is generally smart on immigration and was instrumental in the effort to knock down the REAL ID Act is encouraging.

~

Glad to know that even the President Elect shouldn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy with Verizon.

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A money bet against this not being executed well is probably a safe one.

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Iceland – a textbook case of the benefits of massive deregulation.

~

More on this later, but in case that turns out to be a lot later, I wanted to highlight this good piece on managing current expectations by rewriting the past.  The site, in general, is worth spending some time on.

And Waxman Takes the Gavel

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On November 20, 2008

In Policy, Politics

And Rep. Henry Waxman will be heading up the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  This is encouraging in a number of ways.  First, we’ll have a person shaping the energy policy debate that isn’t wedded to Detroit.  Second, Waxman is not afraid of looking – and moving – into the future.  Finally, that Dingell – a longstanding House power – could be displaced bodes well for those of us who think that more than seniority should determine power structure.

(None of this should be taken to say that I don’t think highly of Dingell.  Waxman is simply more of what we need in that position, right now.)

Pardon Watch

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On November 20, 2008

In Law, Politics, Society

Senator Russ Feingold kicks it off.  Personally, I think we’ve reached a point where it is has been so abused as to merit a complete revisiting of it.  At a minimum, it ought to be subject to a legislative override – perhaps by a supermajority.  The exercise of the pardon should be an act of mercy, not a service to self and friends.

Repeat After Me: The Fairness Doctrine Is Dead

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On November 19, 2008

In Distribution, Law, Politics

and it will stay that way, no matter how much the rightwing noise machine would like to say otherwise.

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