Halloween comes early to The Heretik. Costume suggestions for Rummy and Condi. The man could get rich selling masks. See more creations here.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is able to muster outrage towards a selective set of outrages these days.
San Francisco parking violaters trying to pay their tickets, and folks purchasing annual parking permits, have wait in line up to 54 minutes as often as once per year. This upsets our mayor, who says, "It's an embarrassment. I should go even further: It's absolutely unacceptable. There's no excuse.''
Our MUNI bus system, on the other hand, is raising fares AND was considering service cuts which would have forced riders to wait an hour, instead of a half hour, each time they rode the bus. For graveyard shift workers, that's an hour wait much more than once per year. Mayor, your comments? Perhaps The Examiner didn't call him, or couldn't reach him.
More recently, a study published by the Municipal Transportation Agency revealed MUNI still shows poor on-time arrivals and high driver absenteeism due to calling in sick. Buses reach their stops within 10 minutes of the scheduled time only 66% of the time. And 10% of MUNI drivers are calling in sick, leaving MUNI buses in the parking lot, sans passengers. Passengers who schedule their commute time are held to the whims of MUNI driver health. Every time they ride the bus. To and from work. That's more than once per year.
But the mayor hasn't expressed outrage over any MUNI passenger woes. He has had the energy and time to: lambast PG&E for an underground explosion which injured a 40-year-old woman and shattered the window of a Ralph Lauren store, "Excuses be damned. There will be accountability"; fly over Yosemite for a photo-op, and express support for keeping the San Francisco hydrolic energy system powered by the damn in Hetch Hetchy Valley JUST AS IT IS; and launch some Green Cities initiatives.
Isn't walkability, enabled by reliable public transportation, part of what makes a city green, Mr. Mayor?
Mr. Mayor, your comments?
Continue reading "Newsom: Parking violaters have rights! Muni riders? Eh." »
April 10, 2005
Markos Moulitsas
Daily Kos, Founder
Watch Program
Read Transcript
More Information
Markos of dailykos, one of the most high-traffic political blogs on the internet, exceeded my expectations. He came off more self-effacing than he does online, yet he was still confident. Brian Lamb, who has one of the most steadfast poker faces of all interviewers on TV, laughed out loud at different points. And kos gave a good definition of "what a blogger is" that should put these inane are-bloggers-journalists panels to rest. He was clear that he is not an expert in politics, nor is he a journalist, he explicitly disclosed that he is a partisan, and not fair or balanced. Markos has a fascinating background which was interesting to hear about too.
His comment about being one of the three people in the country who knows how to build a good community political blog was an exaggeration, but since he has the most highly-visited blog of that description he can get away with it. He and Brian discussed a few tips for making a good blog - "stay away from default templates," etc.
"Progressive is a demonization of the word 'liberal'. I think progressive is a nice word, I am a progressive, but I prefer to use the word 'liberal' because I want to take back the meaning of that word."
Continue reading "Markos (kos, or daily kos) on c-span tonight" »
Debra Saunders writes a second column today bemoaning the injustice of the Loanshark Protection Act, more commonly known as The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. Saunders finds that moniker's second half Orwellian, she said as much in her column a month ago. Today she says:
"As a Republican, it disappoints me to say this, but I understand why people call the GOP the party of big business. When Washington pushes for more responsibility among debtors, but not loan-shark-like lenders, when its "ownership society" principles don't make big corporations own up to their role in the bankruptcy problem, the GOP is toadying to big business. (Ditto the 18 Democrats and one independent senator who voted for the bill.)"
No matter. Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-CA,) and 19 others in the "New Democrat Coaliton" wish to voice their ayes sooner, rather than later, and without all that pesky debate. She said as much in a letter she penned urging Speaker Hastert to bring this bill to the House floor post haste. Tnr's Noam Schieber states that not only is this bad legislation, it will hurt Democrats politically. Unless, or course, credit card companies now make up the majority of their base.
Senators Boxer and Feinstein voted against the bill. On April 5th, Tauscher defended her support for the bill in a press release. By voting aye, Democrats looking to take back congress in 2006 may fatten their campaign coffers. Whether they'll trim their constituency support is yet to be seen. On this, Saunders says:
"Plunkett said some House members are having second thoughts, but they figure there is no advantage in voting no and displeasing a political contributing class. They figure, 'Why anger the credit industry when they know they're going to lose?'
"Well, there is a reason to anger the credit industry -- to represent your constituents. If readers want the House to kill this turkey, they should let their congressional representative know that they oppose this bill. This bad bill probably will pass anyway, but citizens who care about good government and good business practices should at least make those lawmakers who vote for the measure sweat."
Back in November, this article transformed my mental caricature Paul Wolfowitz into a complex, if mysterious human form. He may soon be president of the World Bank. The Believer is from New Yorker's November 1 2004 issue.
Juan Cole, Middle East History professor at the University of Michigan, suggests some consequences of a World Bank run by Wolfowitz (via John Robb.)
