SocraticGadfly: 7/18/10 - 7/25/10

July 24, 2010

Socialism in America? Perhaps, yes

And, no, not Obamacare, Tea Partiers.

Rather, we may just be getting to the point of "pension fund socialism," where a mix of unions, state agency investment boards in blue states and similar folks actually get some leverage on American corporations.

I sure as hell hope so.

Tiger Woods, front runner

And not just in the four majors, either. He rarely comes from behind any time, any place. ESPN's Johnette Howard has a great column on how this could become an ongoing part of his psyche and seriously hinder his Golden Bear chase.

Team Obama blames enviros for the failure of cap-trade bill

Oh, this complaint is rich on so many levels.

First, it's arguable that's what you get when you have Dems and Gang Green enviros in bed together.

Second, it's arguable that, per Ed Schultz, Obama just doesn't get it on really fighting the GOP.

Third, what climate bill? Yeah, just a bit snarky, eh? But, true, true, true. Given what the financial "reform" bill turned out to be, a final "cap-and-trade" bill probably would have been worse than nothing.

Ed Schultz:: Obama is afraid of Faux News

Read his specific criticisms; they're all right, not just of Obama but some Dem senators. Too bad they won't listen.

July 22, 2010

Shirley Sherrod: Obama not black enough?

That's kind of where the fired Agriculture Department staffer seems to be headed with her thinking.

I'm not sure it's that so much or, as Harry Reid notes, he's simply not a confrontationalist, for whatever reasons, even as it's clear he needs to be confrontational.

July 21, 2010

Obama - the new William McKinley/

Can we add White House staff to the list of dishonest hacks, along with Breitbart, Faux News, etc., on the Sherrod situation?

Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina praises how this was handled!

I think we call all agree that Obama has reached the point evoking TR's comment about William McKinley: "He has the backbone of a chocolate eclair.

BushCo lies continue even with a new presidnet.

Gale Norton has no shame, it's obvious; Dirk Kempthorne is not a whole lot better:
Norton said the Bush administration focused primarily on onshore drilling and that there "was really not much change as to the outer continental shelf."

Henry Waxman gets it right, including not giving Team Obama a pass:
The Interior Department under both Bush and Obama made serious mistakes, Waxman said.

"The cop on the beat was off duty for nearly a decade," he said. "And this gave rise to a dangerous culture of permissiveness."

Recommendations by Cheney's energy task force and Norton's failure to act on safety warnings about blowout preventers and rejection of proposals to strengthen standards for cementing wells sent a clear message that "the priority was more drilling first, safety second," Waxman said.

Kempthorne oversaw the "deeply flawed assessment" of potential environmental impacts of the lease sale, and MMS's mission became "to serve the oil and gas industry," he added. But Congress "was complicit in this lack of oversight," failing to strengthen regulatory requirements, Waxman said.

"As a Democrat, I hoped the Obama administration would do better and, in some ways, there have been reforms," Waxman said. "But there is little evidence that these reforms changed the laissez-faire approach of MMS in regulating the BP well."

July 18, 2010

Sharron Angle or Stephen Moore - who is nuttier?

After reading Moore's puff piece "interviewtorial" (help me out if you have a better word) with Angle, it's a semi-open question.

I know, Moore is pushing the WSJ op-ed party line. But, how much of the puffery does he actually believe?

Beyond the puffery is the, not ignorance, but outright refusal to ask obvious questions.

Now that polls show Reid has a lead over Angle of 7 points and likely climbing, how can you not ask a question of her about her dropping-like-a-rock poll numbers? Sure, Moore mentions it, but no questions asked about it.

Of course, there's also some of the physical descriptors never mentioned about men
She is petite, has Irish red hair with and a pretty round face.

And, we have her trying to latch on to Palin's beartails, too:
"I was just a mother, and the government had gotten between me and my child, and that's like getting between a mother bear and her cubs," she says.

Unintentional humor from the unreality community.