The Spencerian

Finally Friday Rails Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

There's a giant sign on 66th Street not too far from us that says "No Tax for Tracks!" or something like that.  It's a group opposing proposed light rail in Pinellas County.

Of course, it's not too hard to figure out the group's agenda, nor is it too hard to figure out who they are: it's the tea party weirdos, and they're not so much pissed about light rail per se as the idea of having to pay taxes for it.   

I'll just tell you now: light rail is good idea.  Hell, it's a great idea.  

The tea party freaks got a toe-hold in on this issue in Pinellas County because the bus system here is pretty screwed up and has lost money.  But the answer to a sort of quasi-infrastructure issue that is having difficulty is not to defund it, or not do it -- it's to bolster it.  Seems counter-intuitive, but it's the thing to do.

And light rail actually gives a cost-effective way to do this.

Bus systems incur sizable capital expenses, too, as well as rail, with typically much higher operating and maintenance (O&M) costs; often, when you add up all these costs and account for the relative life of all the infrastructure and rolling stock, plus the work performed (measured in passenger-mileage or passenger-km), you may find that rail actually gives amazing "bang for the buck".

About 90% of my commute is straight up 66th Street.  A bit down Ulmerton, and the rest navigating my way out of Gulfport and turning on 58th Street North, to work.  You know how many busses it'd take me to get to work?  Three.  And even them I'm not sure I figured it right.

There's a lot of good data and information to support light rail: 

• Don't we have enough cars here?  Road use destroys the environment and causes untold congestion—but the costs created by these externalities are imposed on the general public, not paid for by road users.  (Wouldn't you think that would piss off the tea partiers, too?)

• Light rail is cheaper for the consumer.  I thought everyone -- especially the tea party whiners -- were complaining about gas prices these days.  Studies have shown that those who take mass transit spend a far smaller fraction of their total income on transit costs.  (That same study shows that Tampa residents spend more on housing and transportation than anywhere else, just edging out Miami.)

• Light rail is low impact  in terms of air and noise pollution.  Hey, didn't I move here for all that awesome nature stuff?

• Rail-triggered transit-oriented development tends to increase local property values.  I'm sold.

• Rail -- both heavy rail and light rail -- are some of the safest modes of transportation out there.  Florida's I-95 is the most dangerous interstate in America.  I-4 is third (the two meet in Tampa).  US 19 -- straight up through Pinellas -- is the most dangerous road in America.  So notorious is this road, it has a Flickr site.

The buzz kills at the no-tax place have their own arguments.  Or they've borrowed them from the Cato Institute.  I'd paste it all here, but you can probably already guess what it says.  It's interesting to me that it is almost all about the taxation required to support it, instead of an argument against the real merits and drawbacks of what light rail would look like.  

Right.  For me, it's not so much about the money, about the facts and figures.  I think the data probably supports light rail.  I think it's probably a smart investment for a place like Pinellas County.  

It's really more about what kind of place do we want Pinellas County to be in the future.  Light Rail draws us closer together.  It brings people and communities closer.  Personally, I'd like that.  I'd like to be able to get on a train and go up to Clearwater Beach.  Or even to Tarpon Springs (they're not proposing that, but they could).  I'd love to get on a train and have dinner in Ybor City, and not have to worry about crossing the bridge at night.  Wouldn't that be great?  

This is more than about a train.  It is about our growing, evolving community.  

What kind of community do you want?

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So the Supreme Court is in deliberation now, and I guess we'll find out their decision around June.

In the meantime, it's always a lot of fun when Republicans -- those suing the government to overturn health care reform -- step on their own message.  

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And speaking of uh-oh moments caught on video, here's Rick Santorum this close to using the n-word to describe President Obama.  

Normally I'd be inclined to give Santorum the benefit of the doubt -- hey, who knows what he was going to say... could have just been a tongue-tied kind of thing.  But the problem is, Mr. Santorum is a repeat offender, and I believe that we're starting to see a trend, here.

Well, that'll about do it.

Of course, the Santorum campaign is just outraged that you'd think the man might say anything racist:

“Oh, come on!” Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley told Raw Story when asked for comment. “Give me a break. That’s unbelievable. What does it say about those that are running with this story that that’s where their mind goes. You know, I’m not going to dignify that with [a response].”

“That is absolutely ridiculous.”

An outrage!  OUTRAGE!

This is the guy who has made the GOP primary a real contest for Romney.  That ought to tell you everything you need to know about today's Republican Party, gang.  Shameful.

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I think it's interesting that we're being lectured to about "partisan rancor" by a guy who called a mostly-limbless Vietnam War veteran a coward in his campaign ad.

C-SPAN is the root of all evil?  Really?  

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This Dinner with Barack thing is just brilliant, it really is.  I love the idea of it, but I also love that it's perfect for social media.  You can watch it on YouTube.  They're eating dinner (I'm curious which restaurant they went to), and they're eating dinner with regular folks.  It's a remarkable visual, and it is a remarkable way to campaign.    

Do the Republicans have anything even close to this?  Anything at all?

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Good times with a scanner -- and Big Laffs at my expense, over at my other blog, Clintonaut, here. 

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This week a man named Earl Scruggs died.  He was 88.

Mr. Scruggs was a bluegrass pioneer and one hell of a banjo player.  When I learned of his death, I found a good video of him with Steve Martin on the Late Show with David Letterman.  Emeline was mesmerized.  She seemed particularly enamored of the banjo, so I found more.

Then we found the video below.  It's Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers at Jazz Fest a couple of years ago.  They're playing "Orange Blossom Special."  If you can forgive the quick jumps in the middle, and "King Tut" at the end, it's really good.  Emmy loves the fiddle player, who is remarkable.

"Orange Blosom Special" is about a train, by the way.  Imagine that.

It's finally Friday.

Gingrich in Decline

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I said once before that Newt Gingrich never worried me as much as some of the other candidates who have entered and exited the GOP primary conflagration clown car.  And you have to give him credit -- for as crazy and weird as a lot of the other candidates have been, he appealed to the conservative base (or he tried to, anyway), and yet was of the establishment.

Don't get me wrong, he was crazy and weird, too.  A moon base?  Really?  Weird, crazy, out-of-this-world (heh), sure.  But at least he's not joking about his father laying people off and how they used to get a good hardy-har-har out of that.  You sort of have to understand where he's coming from when he says Romney's a weak candidate.

At any rate, he's cutting staff and scaling back public appearances, which is the political campaign equivalent of hacking off your arms and legs.  Of course, he'll claim it's all part of the strategy -- only a flesh wound! -- but anyone who's seen a campaign up close and personal knows this is the beginning of the end.

That being said, let's remember that the man has said he's planning to go all the way to the convention in August -- and he's got 135 delegates, barely under half of what Santorum has, as of today (Santorum, by the way, has less than half of what Romney has).  It would be a difficult (at best) path to the nomination, but the former Speaker of the House isn't empty-handed. 

To be honest with you, there's a little piece of me that's sorry to see him go.  Not because I care about Newt Gingrich -- I don't.  At all.  But for me, he was reminiscent of a time in the 1990s when he was the political Bad Guy to President Clinton's good guy.  I miss those days, sometimes, and for better or for worse, he was a part of it.  Mostly worse, I guess.

Newt Gingrich is a mean, self-important has-been.  Will Romney -- who, again, will be the nominee -- need him for something at the convention in Tampa this summer?  They'd better hope not.

 

Freedom

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I know I linked to Dahlia Lithwich at Slate just the other day, but she has a must-read up there today you have to go check out.

The fight over Obamacare is about freedom. That’s what we’ve been told since these lawsuits were filed two years ago and that’s what we heard both inside and outside the Supreme Court this morning. That’s what Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum have been saying for months. Even people who support President Obama’s signature legislative achievement would agree that this debate is all about freedom—the freedom to never be one medical emergency away from economic ruin. What we have been waiting to hear is how members of the Supreme Court—especially the conservative majority—define that freedom. This morning as the justices pondered whether the individual mandate—that part of the Affordable Care Act that requires most Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty—is constitutional, we got a window into the freedom some of the justices long for. And it is a dark, dark place.

That paragraph right there might be the defining paragraph not just of the Affordable Care Act debate in the U.S. Supreme Court, but of the national political debate we've been having since the rise of the tea party weirdos.  

Freedom also seems to mean freedom from the obligation to treat those who show up at hospitals without health insurance, even if it means letting them bleed out on the curb. When Solicitor General Donald Verrilli tries to explain to Justice Scalia that the health care market is unique because “getting health care service … [is] a result of the social norms to which we've obligated ourselves so that people get health care.” Scalia’s response is a curt: “Well, don't obligate yourself to that.”

You can almost hear the cheering of the tea party weirdos on the steps of the Supreme Court building as Scalia casually dismisses the idea of social norms, like making sure we take care of one another.

Forget politics.  Isn't that the definition of a society, by the way? 

1 : companionship or association with one's fellows : friendly or intimate intercourse : company

2 : a voluntary association of individuals for common ends; especially : an organized group working together or periodically meeting because of common interests, beliefs, or profession

3 :  a : an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another

     b : a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests

Well, aside from the unfortunate use of the word "intercourse" (someone alert Rick Santorum!), it's hard to see where you can go wrong, here.  I guess the Justices -- and really, the whole of the conservative movement in America today -- is resting its argument on the word "voluntary" in the second definition there.  I don't have to do be a part of society if I don't want to.  Freedom!

Freedom is to be free from the telephone. Verrilli explains that “telephone rates in this country for a century were set via the exercise of the commerce power in a way in which some people paid rates that were much higher than their costs in order to subsidize.” To which Justice Scalia is again ready with a quick retort: “Only if you make phone calls.” Verrilli tries to point out that “to live in the modern world, everybody needs a telephone,” but that assumes facts not in evidence.

I'm sure Scalia thought he was being clever, but his comment only serves to highlight how ridiculous the conservative mindset is today.

This morning in America’s highest court, freedom seems to be less about the absence of constraint than about the absence of shared responsibility, community, or real concern for those who don’t want anything so much as healthy children, or to be cared for when they are old. Until today, I couldn’t really understand why this case was framed as a discussion of “liberty.” This case isn’t so much about freedom from government-mandated broccoli or gyms. It’s about freedom from our obligations to one another, freedom from the modern world in which we live. It’s about the freedom to ignore the injured, walk away from those in peril, to never pick up the phone or eat food that’s been inspected. It’s about the freedom to be left alone. And now we know the court is worried about freedom: the freedom to live like it’s 1804.

The freedom to be left alone.  It's a mythology that simply doesn't exist.  It's bogus.  It's made up.  

Even the richest people in the world have to drive on taxpayer-paved roads, they have to have a (state) government license to drive the car -- or their driver does.  They have to fly their jets in airspace controlled by the FAA.  They have to eat food that, even in fancy grocery stores, has been inspected.  They take drugs approved by the FDA.  

They pay taxes.  Not enough, but they still do (most of them).  

Even the most reclusive hermits get sick.  If they don't die in their cabin in the woods, they go to the same hospitals you and I do. 

I haven't said this on the blog yet, but if you're curious where I am on the whole health care deal, well, I do believe it's a right.  I think it's a lifetime right and I would be perfectly willing to pay forty to fifty percent in taxes to have something like they have in Sweden or Denmark.    

'Swedes are very attached to the idea of the state as the People's Home. Everyone in society is under the same roof, everyone will be protected. Sweden is now a more diverse society, but this idea still persists.' 

You have a child, there are opportunities.  You grow old, there is a robust safety net for you.  

You get sick, there is help, because the state is the People's Home.

Well, America is my home, and you can call me a socialist, or whatever in the hell you want, but if the Supreme Court strikes down health care reform, I'd say we're a lot less free than the dingbats and wingnuts will likely say.

Three Quick Things on Visuals

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Three quick things, all of them about visuals you should see.

The first is from Foreign Policy, and it is called Combat Camera.  These are remarkable photographs of men and women in the armed forces around the globe doing, well, some pretty extraordinary things.  You should see them all.

The next is a bit of administrative business.  Normally I wouldn't trouble you with this kind of thing, but I figure it's better to tell you what may be coming than just change it up.  

Typepad has a new dashboard.  It's pretty clear they're encouraging quicker, easier, shorter, faster posts.  Stuff you can do from mobile devices, even.  

You only need to spend about thirty seconds on this blog to see that it's not really built for the quick stuff.  I'm going to ramble at you for hundreds, sometimes thousands of words.  That's just what I do.

That being said, Matt's got a new baby in the house, and we have Finn on the way.  Time will be at a premium -- and, speaking for myself, my time to blog will be limited.  

So I'd like to do what I can.  If that's only a short burst, then I'll take advantage of what the good folks at Typepad have to offer.

As an aside, please be assured that over the next few weeks and months, I'd really like to keep things going on this blog.  I've never had a strategy to garner more readers.  This year that is a little different.  For the first time, there's a ready-made opportunity to get new readers to the blog: the GOP Convention.  The whole world will be watching us, if only for a few days.  Better make the most of it.

The last thing to share is a story from the Washington Post, complete with slide-show, about a guy with the most extensive face transplant to date.  He had a gun accident, and, well, the visuals speak for themselves.  

For me, a couple of the most powerful images were of the doctors.  They transplanted a face onto a guy.

Just look at what we can do.

The Supremes Look at Health Care Reform

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Given the week I had last week (a visit to the ER for Duncan's knee, and a two year-old on antibiotics, to start), and the doc visit for myself I have scheduled this week, it seems appropriate to kick off the national conversation we'll all be having as the U.S. Supreme Court begins deliberations on the Affordable Care Act.  

Looks like the Washington Post's Wonkbook has a really good run-down here.  And by all accounts,the Justices are off and running with the issue.

And while you're devouring all of that, make it a point to read this from Charles P. Pierce at Esquire, which, as always, is right on.  It'll give you a bit of insight into how the other side plans to game this out, should it be found constitutional.

So what's going to happen with health care reform?  

I honestly don't know.  

I think based on my very limited understanding of the whole thing, the Justices are in kind of a tough spot.  The conservatives -- lead by Alito, Scalia, and Thomas, and possibly Roberts (but maybe not!) -- will look for ways to say it's unconstitutional because it's over-reach.  If you're making me guess, I'd say they uphold it (that's just me... and 85% of American Bar Association selected legal experts).

Fortunately for me, Dahlia Lithwick, in her must-read piece for Slate, is right on when she says this isn't about the law or a Supreme Court deliberations: it's about politics.   

So that brings us to the really interesting question: Will the Court’s five conservatives strike it down regardless? That’s what we’re really talking about next week and that has almost nothing to do with law and everything to do with optics, politics, and public opinion. That means that Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion in the Raich medicinal marijuana case, and Chief Justice John Roberts’ and Anthony Kennedy’s opinions in Comstock only get us so far. Despite the fact that reading the entrails of those opinions suggest that they’d contribute to an easy fifth, sixth, and seventh vote to uphold the individual mandate as a legitimate exercise of Congressional power, the real question isn’t whether those Justices will be bound by 70 years of precedent or their own prior writings on federal power. The only question is whether they will ignore it all to deprive the Obama of one of his signature accomplishments.

Lithwick goes on to detail how the Court has kind of bent over backwards -- under the leadership of Chief Justice Roberts, it should be noted -- to rehab their post Bush v. Gore and Citizens Unitedimage.  

I don't want to jinx anything here, but Lithwick kind of takes the Obama Administration to task for not defining and defending the Affordable Care Act earlier.  Maybe she's right.  

But in a coldly political sort of way, maybe he never had to.  Look, if the Court strikes down health care reform, sure, they "rob" President Obama of a signature legislative accomplishment.  But isn't his answer right there in the article?  Hey, this is the Court that gave you Bush v. Gore.  They gave you Citizens United.  What did you expect?  Basically, politicize the Court (more).  

Yes, a slight majority of Americans already think the health law is unconstitutional.  They're wrong.  But many of them are already benefiting from the law.  The law was created without a huge outcry from the public -- it was pushed through on pure political capital Obama carried with him from the election.  All the kids getting kicked off their parent's insurance plans?  All the pre-existing conditions suddenly not covered?  I think the outrage would be real -- real enough for people to carry to the polls. 

Off the Radar You Don't Know Me Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

If you were curious, yes, Santorum cussing at a New York Times reporter is campaign strategy.  In Conservative World, there exists the epic mythology of the liberal media.  At the epicenter of that mythology is the long-reviled New York Times (the TV version is MSNBC, by the way).  Yell bullshit to a Times reporter?  Hell, yeah!  That makes you a man's man, and a Real Conservative.  

In other words, it plays to the base.  

Seven more months of this bullshit, people.

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This ad from one-time presidential lead contender Herman Cain is not just bizarre, it's terrible and depraved and awful.  

Please, if there are kids in the room, get them out before you hit play.  I'm not kidding:

I don't know what's wrong with Herman Cain, but I damn sure hope the PETA folks -- and just about everyone else -- takes up this cause.  This is just plain sick, nearly as sick as their first ad.

It's probably a bad idea to give a guy willing to stoop to these levels any play (yes, the bunny is fake -- and poorly done at that -- but it's the principle of the thing; the fish, on the other hand, is real).  What I'm hoping is that enough people will feel a sense of outrage over this and speak up.  

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In some sad Gulfport news, former Ward 1 City Councilmember Judy Ryerson passed away.  

Cathy Salustri of the Gulfport Gabber has a really nice remembrance, here.

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Just a quick last word on the whole Trayvon Martin tragedy.  The folks behind George Zimmerman, the shooter, are starting to get their story together, and it's really just very, very ugly.

Today, someone had the audacity to say that "in a way, George Zimmerman lost his life, too."  Conveniently, the still-breathing Mr. Zimmerman now claims that he was attacked and beaten by the teen.  Unsurprisingly, there's a late-arrival witness to back this up.  There was a racial epithet uttered... or there wasn't (riiiiight...).  Trayvon was once suspended for having a bag with traces of marijuana in it.

President Obama spoke quite eloquently on the death of Trayvon Martin.  Again, unsurprisingly, Rush Limbaugh reacted negatively to that.  So did Newt Gingrich, desperate to ingratiate himself with the voting base of the GOP, in a pathetic and humiliating attempt to save his moribund campaign. 

Al Sharpton has jumped into the fray.

NRA architects of the obviously awful and painfully stupid "Stand Your Ground" law here in Florida find "nothing wrong with it."  Once again, this should surprise no one.

The hard truth is, none of that matters.  None of it.  

Everyone agrees that Trayvon Martin was unarmed.

Trayvon Martin was unarmed.  He was unarmed.  He didn't have a gun.  George Zimmerman did.  Was Trayvon physically beating Zimmerman?  Maybe.  Probably not.

By the way, how come no one seems to be asking this question: if an armed guy bigger than you is chasing you down a sidewalk, what do you do?  Do you just stop and throw your hands up and do nothing?  Or was Trayvon defending himself against a crazed 911 abuser with a history of violence?

An unarmed teenager is dead in Sanford, Florida.  

That's really all there is to it.  Everything else -- Trayvon's side, Zimmerman's side, doesn't matter -- is all just extraneous stuff.  

There's a fundamental question we need to ask ourselves as a country, as a society: are we the kind of place where it's okay for a person with a gun to shoot a person without a gun.  Are we that kind of society?  Is that the kind of world we want for our children?  

I don't think so.    

 -- More later -- 

Finally Friday Keep Movin' On Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It is the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and for as wild and crazy as the passage of the Act was, the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court deliberations over the Act will be even more interesting.

Make no mistake: despite the ongoing GOP presidential primary conflagration, this issue, along with the economy, will be front-and-center during the general election.  

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I said yesterday I didn't think John Edwards could sink any lower.  Looks like he probably will.

But I also track with Charles P. Pierce on this.

John Edwards was the only Democratic presidential candidate since Jesse Jackson who went out of his way to talk about poverty in America. Not in an oblique way. Not as an afterthought after blathering for hours on the pressures on The Middle Class and how he wanted to unleash Small Business, The Engine Of The Economy — both of which, in purely political terms, meant discussing the not-inconsiderable economic perils of struggling white folks. Talking about poverty, and about poor people, meant talking a lot about black people, and that's the kind of thing that Al From and the Democratic Leadership Council convinced a generation of ambitious Democratic politicians was a vote-killing extravagance that the party could no longer afford. I thought that it mattered that there was someone out there at least talking the talk on the big stage about how there are pockets of unforgivable hunger and want in this nation the existence of which should embarrass us all.

And, today, I think about the people in those places who may have heard the same thing in John Edwards that I did, who believed in him more fervently than anyone because of what he was saying about the people like them. Now, they're largely invisible in our politics again, except as people whose interests can be used as chips in our grand bargains. If you want to be pissed at John Edwards, be pissed that he let those people down. I am.

I am, too.  

Look, it's one thing to make some political predictions -- Who will win this state?  Who will take that precinct?  What percent?  By how many?  -- and be wrong.  It's another to put your faith in someone and have it trampled, decimated so completely, basically vaporized.  

The great failings of John Edwards are two-fold.  Yes, we may well have lost for a generation the opportunity to talk about the poor and the hungry and those most in need in this country.  The conversation needed to happen, and now, as a public policy issue, it is likely dead.  

Worse, though, is the fact that nothing will actually get done, at least not on a grand national scale.  Poverty will continue to be marginalized as a subject as the national political conversation continues to focus on the middle class.  

Don't get me wrong -- I still think Obama is the clear choice ("Corporations are people, my friend!" is your likely alternative, so...).  But John Edwards had a chance -- not just at the presidency; at so much more -- and he wasted it.  What a shame. 

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I'm on Twitter @bkirby816

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This blog is on Facebook, too.

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Green light, baby.

It's finally Friday.

 

Congratulations to Matt Spence

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I consider it a bit of a coup that I managed to get someone to regularly post here as a contributor.  Matt has had some good posts already, and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for the future.

If you're wondering where he has been the last week or so, well, I'm not the only one who has been expecting a son.

Matt and his lovely wife Erin greeted the arrival of their third son on Wednesday, and everyone is healthy and doing well.  I couldn't be happier for them.

I'll let Matt share more about the good news when he can.  In the meantime, I hope you send them all good wishes. 

Almost Friday Party on the Left, Party on the Right Edition

God, you mean the whole Etch-a-Sketch thing is real?  I swear to you, I thought it was a joke.

“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign,” Eric Fehrnstrom, a longtime adviser to Mr. Romney, said in response to a question about pivoting to a matchup with Mr. Obama and appealing to moderate swing voters. “Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

The reference to a children’s drawing toy that erases the last image with a simple shake immediately fed attacks from Mr. Romney’s rivals that he was an untrustworthy standard-bearer for the conservative cause.

Dude, what were you thinking?  And on the day Jeb Bush endorses your candidate?  

You know, Jeb was everyone's dark-horse choice in this deal, so to have his endorsement should have been a huge thing.  And now it's ruined.  Wow.

It's almost too painful to watch.

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I didn't think John Edwards could sink any further.

Former Sen. John Edwards is denying a report that he used the services of a call girl employed by accused Soccer Mom Madam Anna Gristina while he was running for President.

The woman told investigators that Edwards paid her for sex during a 2007 visit to New York to raise money for his failed White House bid, DNAinfo reported Thursday.

Sadly for everyone, I was wrong.

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I got a great email from Nina Hayden the other day.  She's running for Congress in what will be the new 13th Congressional District -- that's now up here in Pinellas, against the trillion-term incumbent, Bill Young.  

I was 14 when I received a most unexpected present.

On a cold Christmas morning in Maryland, my two sisters and I bounded down the stairs.  Instead of finding wrapped gifts sitting under the Christmas tree, we discovered that our parents had different plans for us on that holiday morning.  We quickly got into the family car and drove 30 minutes into Washington, D.C., where we spent the day feeding the hungry and the homeless at a shelter in our nation’s capital.  My parents were hard-working people who showed me the importance of service.  That Christmas morning, I saw what happens when Americans lose their jobs, lose their homes, and struggle to provide for their families.

I saw how just those few hours we gave made a huge difference in the lives of struggling families.

I'm running for Congress because I know our district needs a loyal, committed Democrat who will fight for the economic security of working Americans.  Our district needs to send a Democrat to Washington that represents you, understands you,and will work hard for what matters most to American families.

There are a lot of people who run for office, and too many of them never explain why.  I'm glad Nina sent this email -- and I hope you can help her, if you can.

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I got another great email from a guy named Steve Israel.  He's a Congressman from New York, and he happens to be the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.  He was writing me about Keith:

As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee I have a simple job: win the 25 seats we need to win the House Majority.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. The House is in play and our path to the Majority runs through Florida.  If we want to win the Speaker’s gavel from the Republicans, we must defeat Florida Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan and elect Keith Fitzgerald. 

Keith has set a goal of raising $9,750 before the critical March 31st Federal Election Commission deadline to show he has what it takes to win. 

The media and political world will be closely watching Keith’s fundraising totals so it’s important he have a strong showing in the first big deadline of 2012. 

Can I count on you to make a generous donation of $25 or more by March 31st? 

Keith’s opponent, Vern Buchanan, is a top lieutenant of Speaker John Boehner and Leader Eric Cantor. Buchanan, Cantor, and Boehner keep making the wrong choices -- repeatedly choosing to protect tax breaks for millionaires instead of protecting Medicare for seniors. 

Not only does Congressman Buchanan march in lockstep with Boehner and Cantor, he is now under investigation by the FBI, IRS, a federal grand jury and the House Ethics Committee.  How can you protect seniors on Medicare when you are spending your time protecting yourself from multiple investigations? 

Keith Fitzgerald is a problem-solver who will fight to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, protect Medicare, and reignite the American dream. 

I'm so glad to see the DCCC and the gang in Washington going to work for Keith Fitzgerald.

I hope you can help him, too.

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It's almost Friday.

Death and Trayvon Martin: The Streets We Walk

by Benjamin J. Kirby

The speed with which the tragic Trayvon Martin story has gained critical mass has been stunning.  Good.

Just yesterday I was driving home and listening to the 911 call replayed on WMNF, thinking maybe I was the subject of a War of the Worlds Orson Welles-ian radio hoax.  Surely no one can shoot a kid -- a kid with nothing more than Skittles in his pocket and an iced tea in his hand -- shoot him dead in the street and remain free after only a perfunctory questioning by a woefully dismissive police force.  That's not America.  That's not who we are.

Sadly, that's exactly what happened over in Sanford.

An African American youth going to 7-11.  A neighborhood watch captain (not African American), ostensibly acting under Florida's pathetic -- and now tragic -- "Stand Your Ground" law.  In a gated community in Sanford, Florida, those two met and now you have a dead 17 year-old kid and a neighborhood watch captain only briefly taken into custody and questioned by police.  That's just not America.  It's not who we are.  

There are still more questions than answers.  But we're learning more all the time.  Turns out Trayvon called a friend just before he was shot and killed.  The excuse made up by the shooter, George Zimmerman -- a guy with a 2005 arrest for battery, a guy with a history of 911 calls and over-reactions -- was that Martin attacked him.  

It's nice that Governor Scott has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to investigate.  It should be noted that only happened after the DOJ and the FBI announed their own investigation.

I'm guessing FBI forensic evidence will prove that it was unarmed Trayvon Martin yelling for help, picked up on his cell phone call, and not George Zimmerman, as he has claimed.  That'll be nice, too, and it may even be enough to bring Zimmerman to some kind of justice, but it won't bring Trayvon Martin back.   

How many times did I walk neighborhoods in Little Rock, going from my house to friend's house, going to the store to get candy or a Coke.  More than could be counted.  Never once did I fear for my life.  Sure, I'm a white male.  But that shouldn't matter.  It shouldn't have mattered for me, it should not have mattered that Trayvon Martin was black, and it should not matter that my daughter is white.  She ought to be able to walk through the neighborhoods of Gulfport -- or Sanford, for that matter -- without fear.  

Maybe she can because she's white, but that's not America.  That is not who we are.  

Let me close by saying this: the Florida NRA, and especially the former head honcho there, Marion Hammer, ought to feel a sense of overwhelming shame and incredible guilt for fobbing this ridiculous law which allows Florida residents to “meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm,” onto our state.  

I am quite certain Ms. Hammer and her NRA colleagues don't care one bit.  The only people who ought to feel more shame is the Florida Legislature, for passing this abomination of a law.  Sadly, I'm not sure they are capable of feeling shame.  

George Zimmerman -- again, a battery charge and a history of 911 abuse -- had no business being around a gun.  Florida has no business operating under a "Stand Your Ground" law.  

This is America.  This is about the life of a young person, gone, robbed.  An injustice.  But it is also about politics and public policy.  It is about the way we run our country, the way we run our state.  

And every one of us ought to remember the folks complicit in the passage of this ridiculous gun-fetish law.  Everyone. 

Family Time

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It was bound to happen sooner or later: for the first time, I inadvertently made my daughter cry, using nothing more than words.

I know the rap on me.  I know the deal.  Nice guy, funny -- but will be the first to take a joke too far.  Can cross the line.  Doesn't mean to, but will.  Smart, but not smart enough to know when it's enough.  

Of course, I've fussed at her, and she's cried.  Or, worse, I've bonked her head getting her into the car, and she's cried.  This was different.  

The short version is, we were having dinner and Duncan got some food on her hand or her wrist and Emmy, very worried, was going to wipe it off with her little wash cloth.  I made some over-the-top Oh no!  Mommy has food on her hand!  kind of thing, too dramatic, too silly, and then -- to make the situation worse -- I got up to go rinse the wash cloth out.  I didn't stay focused on Emmy so she could see I was kidding. 

Here's the point: two year-olds don't necessarily get sarcasm.  

Lesson learned.

And I'll tell you this: the only thing that will make you feel smaller than making your daughter cry because you teased her is having her crawl out of bed, hours after dinner, well past her bed-time, walk into the room you're in, stand there in her little Minnie Mouse nightgown, stuffed Mickey in hand, and look at you with her bight, beautiful eyes, with her bright, beautiful smile, and say with more love than you deserve, "You're a good Daddy."  

Nothing political here.  I just thought I'd share a story about what an ass I am, and what a really great kid I have.

I also just wanted to tell you that story so you can get an idea of where my head has been the last few days -- and probably will be going forward in the next several weeks.  I'll try to keep regularly posting, but between now and when Finn gets here (around the end of April, or so), it may be sporadic.  Bear with us -- and thanks for reading.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone.  Sláinte.

Finally Friday Nobody Listens to Techno Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

A quick word to all the great young folks who came by and left more comments for the Kony 2012 post from Adam Kirby than any other post I've ever had here: Jason Russell, the Kony 2012 filmmaker, was arrested in San Diego today for public masturbation [WARNING: some of the images contained on the other side of that link may be disturbing].  It looks like he was detained by police, but will not be charged with any crimes.  

It's pretty clear the reason for that is that this was much more about Mr. Russell's mental health than about committing a crime -- the San Diego police made the right call, and Mr. Russell is being evaluated by medical and mental health professionals.  

Here's what I want to tell any students who have been good enough to come by this blog and check it out at the behest of their teacher, my brother, Adam Kirby: please don't abandon your passion for the discussion the Kony 2012 video has sparked among you.  Whether you agree with what the video says, whether you agree with the motivations behind the video or not, whether you thought it was a "teachable moment" or not, please don't let the distraction of what happened in San Diego take away from what's important: this ongoing conversation, this ongoing call to action.  

Please also don't be afraid of public service, for that is what Mr. Russell provided us (again, whether you agree with the video or not; his instigation of the conversation was service enough).  I have spent my lifetime in public service, and on my worst day what I felt was nothing compared to the immense, extraordinary pressure Jason Russell must have felt in the last few weeks.  100 million views on Vimeo and YouTube?  Nearly 750,000 likes on Facebook, 805,000 talking about it?  

It's up to you.  The conversation will continue, but only if you keep talking.  The cause will endure.  But the burden of endurance does not belong solely to Jason Russell, for the cause is not his alone.  It is not even the cause of Joseph Kony.  The cause is your engagement.  Together, I know you can shoulder the burden.  Together, you must.    

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I sort of thought John Edwards had already hit rock-bottom.  I guess not.

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Always a good week when I get a Best of the Blogs from Progress Florida.  This time for my post on Democrats and branding.

Thanks, you guys.

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We went to Tijuana Flats for dinner tonight, which is just about heaven for me -- to be out at dinner on a Friday night with my family, eating Mexican food, having a good time.  

The soundtrack they had playing was really hitting it out of the park, and then this (below) came on.  I'm not sure who this speaks to more -- Emeline or her parents -- but Emmy was just dancing away as this played.  It was pretty awesome.

It's finally Friday.

Almost Friday Old Heart Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It hasn’t gotten a lot of play in the regular media rotation, but one of the larger underlying themes of this election year is, aside from redistricting, laws and challenges to laws in various states around voting.  It’s certainly happened here in Florida, where the DOJ has challenged Florida’s voting laws.

So with that in mind, it’s a major turn of events that Texas is challenging the Voting Rights Act.  This could go to the U.S. Supreme Court before Election Day this year.

Texas filed an amended complaint today [UPDATE, actually Tuesday] in its action to overcome the US Department of Justice’s objection to its voter identification law. The complaint now says that the Voting Rights Act section 5, as amended in 2006, “exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment.”

This is a very big deal.  I had expected South Carolina to do this in its own challenge to DOJ denial of preclearance of its voter id law.  For some reason, South Carolina did not do so; nor did Texas in its initial complaint.

A very big deal, indeed.

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For all the problems facing the sorry bunch contending for the GOP presidential nomination, including the increasing prospect of a brokered convention, we are reminded that it won’t all be paths of rose petals and the wind at his back for President Obama, either. From the HuffingtonPost, it looks like the makings our own convention problem in the form of the issue of gay marriage:

An unexpected surge in support to place same-sex marriage on the Democratic Party platform at the August convention has energized LGBT advocates and complicated an already delicate situation facing President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

In the past month, almost half of all Democratic senators, several of Obama's national campaign co-chairs, the House Minority Leader and the chairman of the Democratic convention, among others, have said they support adding marriage equality to the platform. Were this the position that the president held, such proclamations would not be a problem. But Obama says he is still publicly “evolving” on marriage equality. And the wave of support to make it a component of his convention has both surprised aides and set off a private push to keep emotions and expectations in check.

Look, Jim Messina, the Obama/Biden 2012 top dog, is right. The convention delegates haven’t even been chosen yet.   “There's a process,” he said, “and the DNC will go through that, and we will have a platform.”

Good and true answer – for now. September will be here before you know it.  And we’ll all be watching.

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These people are mentally ill.  That’s all there is to it.

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Admit it: even you don't know what the hell they're talking about anymore (Puerto Ricans speaking Spanish?  What?).

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But at least they're finally up-front about being racist assholes. 

It’s almost Friday.

No looking back.

The past is far behind.

Broken-down heart’s a time machine.

Please Read the New York Times Op-Ed by Greg Smith on Leaving Goldman Sachs

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It is very important that you read the piece by former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith on why he is leaving the world's premier investment bank.

Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

It gets worse for Goldman Sachs from there.

Here's all I really care to say about this: I know that there have been a lot of folks (students, I presume) commenting on the guest post from my brother, Adam Kirby, on the Kony 2012 video and Invisible Children.  

I am really thrilled and honored that you've come by the blog to check it out.  

If you're a young person -- if you are a student of Adam's (Mr. Kirby, I guess, which sounds weird, because that's our dad) at Central High then please take the time to click that link and read that piece.

You need to know that Goldman Sachs is an integral part of the global banking system.  It is huge.  And they have played a very large role in the terrible economy -- some would call it a depression -- we're experiencing today, and have experienced for the last few years. 

You students are talking an awful lot about engagement and advocacy.  It's so important, and I'm glad that conversation is happening with you and your friends and people at Central and other schools around the nation.  

Have a conversation about this, too.  Because culture matters.  Service matters.  

And this piece is going to have an impact on the conversation.  Yes, the Occupy Wall Street people have made a difference -- they've elevated the conversation.  Sure, the Dodd-Frank Bill made an honest attempt at banking reform.

But this is an insider speaking out.  And he's speaking loudly and clearly.  

This will change the game.  

Don't you want to be there when it happens?